Friday 11 November 2011

Low carbohydrate diets for diabetes control. Katharine Morrison, Principal GP

Despite the growing incidence of type 1 and 2 diabetes and the accelerating cost of the resources needed to monitor and treat these patients, we are obviously not succeeding in reducing either the number of people affected or the severity of the complications of these conditions.


Yet there is a simple, effective, low-cost strategy that is proven to work with diabetes: reduce the amount of sugar and starch in the diet.


The lower the carbohydrate consumed the less insulin is needed for type 1 diabetics and the less hard the pancreas has to work for type 2 diabetics. For example, insulin dependent diabetics can expect to half or third their insulin requirements. Less insulin injected results in more predictable blood sugars and less hypoglycaemia.


How long can we as a profession afford to keep our heads in the sand regarding the benefits of low carb diets for diabetics?


The words of Dr. Katharine Morrison


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1570767/




Eddie

2 comments:

  1. The paper was published in 2005. Since then the incidence of diabetes has soared and is expected to increase further in the future. The usual reaction of the medical professionals is that they would like the diabetic to have as 'normal' life as possible. A cursory glance at official statistics indicates that a large proportion of the diabetic population suffer from diabetic complication! Do the medical professionals view these complications as having a 'normal' life?

    John

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  2. "Do the medical professionals view these complications as having a 'normal' life?" Good question. They never seemed to mind recommending a special diet to heart disease patients. Why aren't they entitled to a "normal life"? Because they're sick! If you're sick, you can't have a normal life--you have to make accommodations to fix what's making you sick. For diabetics, that means drastically limiting sugar and starchy carbs. For someone with heart disease, that means...oh yeah, the same thing!

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