Type II Diabetes Reversal
TYPE 2 DIABETES REVERSED WITH EXTREME DIET
A small but landmark study has found that type 2 diabetes patients who followed for two months, an extreme but tightly supervised diet that restricted calories to just 600 a day experienced a return to normal pre-breakfast blood sugar levels after one week and that 70 percent of those patients remained completely free of diabetes a month after returning to their regular, but newly portion-controlled, diet.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are too high due to insufficient insulin or the inability to use insulin effectively. The researchers believe excess calories eventually cause fat buildup in the liver and pancreas, triggering type 2 diabetes. MRI scans of study subjects showed the pancreas returns quickly to normal fat levels and regains its ability to produce insulin.
This suggests type 2 diabetes may be reversed by calorie restriction alone.
A 600-calorie diet is a drastic, starvation diet that should only be followed temporarily and only under close practitioner supervision.
Presented June 24, 2011 at the American Diabetes Association conference, this study will appear in a future issue of the journal Diabetologia, but is now accessible online at http://bit.ly/mDicGp without cost.
Cutting Fat Just A Little Has Big Benefits Long-Term
SLIGHTLY LOWER FAT INTAKE MAY REDUCE DIABETES RISK
Researchers have found that, even without any resulting weight loss, a modest reduction in dietary fat alone may significantly increase insulin secretion, increase glucose tolerance, and increase insulin sensitivity – indicators of a decreased risk of diabetes type two.
Participants were placed on one of two diets with only minor differences in the content of fat and carbohydrates. These diets were eucaloric, meaning their calories were tightly controlled so that body weight would not change during the eight-week study.
In addition, during analysis, the team took into account even minor, short-term fluctuations in body weight. One diet was 55 percent carbohydrate and 27 percent fat and the other was 43 percent carbohydrate and 39 percent fat.
The lower-fat diet produced better insulin sensitivity even without weight loss. Further study is needed to determine the exact mechanism involved, but these results suggest that an upper limit of dietary fat of about 27 percent might lower the long-term risk of diabetes type two. This just-released study will be published in a future issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition but is available online now at http://bit.ly/jUN0Wd with subscription or fee.
Study: How Omega-3 in Pregnancy is Linked to Childhood Obesity
Adequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids during pregnancy may lower the risk of childhood obesity by 32%, according to new research from Harvard Medical School.
The study, published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined the relationship between the type of fat a mother consumed at mid-pregnancy and whether her child was obese at age 3 – determined by body mass index (BMI) and skinfold measurements.
The researchers, led by Dr. Emily Oken, associate professor in the department of population medicine, reported that enhanced maternal-fetal omega-3 status was associated with lower childhood obesity.
“We examined the extent to which prenatal omega-3 and omega-6 PUFA concentrations were associated with childhood adiposity,” wrote Onken and her colleagues.
“A higher ratio of cord plasma omega-6 to omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) was associated with higher subscapular and triceps [skinfold thicknesses] and odds of obesity,” they said.
Omega-3 and obesity
The consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, most notably EPA and DHA, is associated with several health benefits, including improving of lipid metabolism, preventing coronary heart diseases, and reducing inflammatory responses. In addition, omega-3s have been suggested to reduce fat levels in animals fed a high-fat diet.
Onken and her colleagues explained that a low intake of omega-3 fatty acids, found mainly in fish and seafood, in addition to a presence of large amounts of omega-6s has been suggested to be a risk factor in the development of obesity.
Previous research in animals found that such imbalances in the types of fatty acids in the diet, promotes the development of fat tissue. However, the authors noted that very few studies have investigated these effects in human populations.
Study details
Onken and her colleagues reported that around one fifth expectant mothers ate more than 2 fish meals per week at mid-pregnancy, however only about half of these women achieved the recommend intake of DHA of 200 mg per day.
The authors said that such an observation suggests although pregnant women ate fish, they did not consume enough of the species known to contain high amounts of DHA, such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel.
Only 3% of pregnant women in the study were found to consume the recommended intake of 200 mg/day of DHA in the last month of pregnancy. Onken and her team noted that this is the time when large amounts of DHA are transferred from the mother to the infant to support brain development.
The research team then calculated the odds for obesity in the offspring at age 3 according to the mother’s omega-3 fatty acid intake and the level of omega-6s and omega-3s in cord blood at delivery.
Onken and her co-workers reported the odds of obesity in 3-year-olds were between 2 and 4 times higher when cord blood had a high ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.
In contrast, the odds of obesity were 32% lower when maternal consumption of omega-3s was high or if the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 was at close to recommended levels.
The Harvard research team noted that the study is the first indications from human data that low intakes of omega-3s in the presence of large amounts of omega-6s during pregnancy might affect the chance of obesity in the offspring.
“These findings need to be confirmed by others. It will also be important to demonstrate that making deliberate changes to a woman’s fat intake during pregnancy has desirable effects on weight and fatness in children,” they added.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Volume 93, Issue 4, Pages 780-788, doi: 10.3945/?ajcn.110.005801
“Prenatal fatty acid status and child adiposity at age 3 y: results from a US pregnancy cohort”
Authors: S. M Donahue, S.L Rifas-Shiman, D.R. Gold, Z.E Jouni, M.W Gillman, E. Oken.
How Dads Influence Childhood Eating Patterns & Rituals
DADS’ HABITS ESTABLISH KIDS’ DINING OUT PATTERN
Children ranging from ages 9 – 15 more frequently use and and spend time at fast-food and full-service restaurants if their fathers frequently visit and spend time in these restaurants, according to a new study.
About half of the food budget of Americans is currently spent in restaurants.
Food prepared away from home is strongly associated with food that is higher in calories, saturated fat and sodium.
Researchers also found that greater time spent in restaurants was linked to more time spent in cars and to both parents maintaining regular daytime working schedules. The study suggests that parents and especially fathers, should consider setting better eating examples for their children by making better food choices and by more often eating at home, making dinner at home a family ritual. Dietary behaviors, such as eating away from home, have been shown to remain fairly stable from childhood into young adulthood.
This study was published in the May-June 2011 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. It is available online at http://bit.ly/mOegnV with subscription or fee.
A New Way to Look at Fat, Salt & Sugars
NEW US DIETARY GUIDELINES FOCUS ON SALT, FAT & SUGARS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have updated the 2005 dietary guidelines. The new guidelines include 23 recommendations, which take direct aim at sodium, refined sugars, fats and refined grains.
Saturated Fat
Saturated fat should be limited to less than 10% of overall calorie intake, advises the new report, which was based on the latest scientific evidence.
Sodium
The guidelines also recommend a maximum daily intake of 2,300mg of sodium and a maximum of 1,500mg for high-risk groups, which includes those over age 50, or those who have diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or high blood pressure.
Alcohol
Alcohol consumption should be limited to one drink daily for women, and two for men.
Grains
The report recommended that whole grains be chosen over refined grains.
Fruits & Vegetables
A wide variety of fruits and vegetables should be eaten regularly; and meat and poultry should be replaced occasionally with seafood.
Consumers should replace sugary drinks with water; choose smaller portions generally; and get more exercise. The complete report – including specific recommendations for people aged 50 and over, and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding – is available online now at http://bit.ly/g2IIJH.
Can I Eat Carbs?
Despite the common misconception that starchy carbohydrates promote weight gain, carbohydrates are – gram for gram – lower in calories than either protein or fat.
In fact, most of the body’s energy comes from starches; however, those carbohydrates known as refined are linked to health disorders and the risk of diabetes. Examples of refined carbohydrates include white bread, white rice, white pasta and peeled potatoes.
Always opt for unrefined or whole-grain or brown rice, grains and pasta and potatoes in their skins, for excellent sources of energy, nutrition and fiber.
Lack of Omega 3s Leads to Weight Gain
NICE, France—Those who don’t want their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be overweight may want to add omega-3 supplements to their diet. A new study from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis found eating too many omega-6 fatty acids and not enough omega-3s can lead to weight gain that can pass on through generations (J Lipid Res. 2010 Aug;51(8):2352-61).
The French researchers pointed out obesity has steadily increased over the last few decades. During this time, populations of industrialized Western countries have been exposed to diets rich in fat with a high content of the omega-6 linoleic acid and a low content of the omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid. Experts say human beings evolved on a diet with approximately a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), whereas in Western diets, the ratio is 15:1 to 16.7:1.
In order to determine how this imbalance affects obesity, researchers fed male and female mice a high-fat diet (35 percent energy as fat) with the linoleic acid:a-linolenic acid ratio was 28 to 1. These mice mated randomly, and after breeding, maintained the same diet for successive generations.
While the mice’s genomes did not change, the offspring showed, over four generations, a gradual enhancement in fat mass due to combined hyperplasia (where the body builds extra cells in organs or tissue) and hypertrophy (an increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its cells) with no change in food intake.
Transgenerational changes in insulin-resistance and inflammation markers levels also occurred, singling an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
The authors concluded, “Thus, under conditions of genome stability and with no change in the regimen over four generations, we show that a Western-like fat diet induces a gradual fat mass enhancement, in accordance with the increasing prevalence of obesity observed in humans.”
The Truth About Skim Milk
Contrary to common belief, even skim milk is not fat-free: 5% of skim milk’s calories come from fat. 
- A full 34% of the calories contained in partly skimmed of “2%” milk come from fat. It’s called 2% milk because the fat content makes up 2% of the total weight of the milk.
- Whole milk contains 48% fat by calories. (For comparison, lean hamburger runs about 64 percent fat by calories.)