Diabetes and Obesity

Diabetes Cure and Side-Effects

In June 2011 a team at the Medical School of the University of Newcastle in the north of England reported that after placing 11 diabetics on a closely-monitored 600-cal/day diet, and losing about 1/3 of their body weight, seven of the subjects were cured of their diabetes and no longer needed diabetes medication. The supposed reason for this cure is that their previously fatty organs had lost most of their fat, which was somehow interfering with normal insulin activity. While this work surely sheds light on the modern up-surge of diabetes and insulin-resistance, we must remember that this is only a very early part of the story.

What comes to mind to temper excitement is what came out of the study of statins and cholesterol, in which it was discovered that medicine's "gold standard" of extending life span was not met. It had long been assumed that by cutting cholesterol and eliminating athrosclerosis and thus strokes and heart attacks meant adding years to life of the pill takers. But, because statins interfer with the very centers of cellular power-plants, they caused accelerated aging with no net gain in longevity.

Getting back to the diabetic study as reported, we must keep the desired goal in sight - the "gold standard." One wonders whether or not the stress of such a crash diet on the body's systems might over-ride any lengthening of life-span. Perhaps a slower rate of weight loss might be less stressful. Or perhaps there are other ways of removing fatty tissues from the internal organs.

Again this page is not to degrade the findings, but rather to let the lay person recognize the limitations of the findings, and cautiously await further steps in the scientific process.