Australia - New Diet Cuts Type 2 Diabetes Medication Level By 40 Percent

[Gert van der Hoek]

| February 12, 2016


Type 2 diabetes is a chronic debilitating disease. Along with its lifetime effects to the body, is the burden of drugs that needs to be maintained for years, or decades for some people. A team of Australian scientists formulated a ground breaking diet that is effective in reducing the predicament of type 2 diabetes, with an estimated 40 percent expected reduction in medication levels.

This may sound as good news to diabetics because it can help reduce the costs of their medications and treatments. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) scientists developed a low-carbohydrate diet and exercise program, which recommends eating foods that are low in carbohydrates, high in proteins and high in unsaturated fats.

"The research results are ground breaking," said Grant Brinkworth from CSIRO.

The National Health and Medical Research Council funded the study with an estimated $1.3 million. CSIRO researchers along with those from Adelaide University, University of South Australia and Flinders University, compared two diets: a very-low-carbohydrate, high saturated fat diet and a high-unrefined carbohydrate, low fat diet, which is currently used to manage type 2 diabetes.

The new diet improved over-all blood cholesterol profiles by boosting the levels of good cholesterol or high density lipoproteins and decreasing triglyceride levels than the conventional diet. The researchers suggest that currently-used diets should be updated based on findings from such studies.

"In our study the very low carbohydrate diet was more effective in reducing the number and levels of blood glucose spikes and dips, flattening the blood glucose profile over a 24-hour period," Campbell Thompson, professor from the University of Adelaide, said.