| MadSci Network: Medicine |
This is a very good question. There are two main types of diabetes. Type I diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is an autoimmune disease. It occurs when the immune system attacks the pancreatic cells that make insulin. Insulin controls blood sugar. With type I diabetes, insulin is required to control blood sugar. However, proper diet, including limiting refined sugars, is required to achieve good blood sugar control and to decrease the risk of long-term complications of diabetes. Type II diabetes, also called adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin dependent diabetes, results from the body not responding to the insulin that the body makes. This is condition results from a combination of genetic factors that can't be controled and factors that people can control. The two biggest causes that can be controlled are being overweight and not getting enough excercise. People who are risk for type II diabetes who lose weight and get more excercise are much less likely to get type II diabetes. People who already have type II diabetes can control it by eating a good diet, losing weight and getting excercise. If this is not enough to control diabetes, medications and insulin may be required. A good diet includes a diet that is relatively low in carbohydrates, especially refined sugars and starches and allows the person to maintain a good weight (i.e., that is usually lose weight). OK, after all that, I still did not answer your question: Is it possible to reverse diabetes by deleting refined sugars from the diet? Eating a diet that is low in refined sugars and starches is very important in controlling diabetes and keeping blood sugar in the proper range. However, once you have type II diabetes, you almost always have it for life. If you lose weight and get lots of excercise and don't eat many refined sugars and starches, and control your blood sugar, you prevent complications from diabetes. So I guess the answer to your question is that minimizing refined carbohrydates is very important in controlling diabetes and preventing complications from it, but is not all that is necessary. More infomration on diabetes may be found here: http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/fa qs.htm#cure http://www.diabetes.org/, especially the "All about diabetes secton" on the left. Thanks for your excellent question.
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