Intermittent fasting is an eating plan in which people do long periods of fasting and shorter periods of eating on a regular schedule. Unlike most eating plans that focus on what a person should and shouldn’t eat, intermittent fasting prioritizes when to eat.
It’s based on the idea of that humans have evolved to go several hours without eating and that the ability to fast allows our body to stay healthy and within a healthy weight range.
But not only the Intermittent fasting allows weight control, but may reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
Study reveals that type 2 diabetes could be reversed in three months
“Type 2 diabetes is not necessarily a disease permanent for life. Remission is possible if patients lose weight by changing their diet and exercise habits,” said Dongbo Liu, a doctor at Hunan Agricultural University in Changsha, China.
“Our research shows that intermittent fasting can lead to diabetes remission in people with type 2 diabetes
, and these findings could have a big impact on the more than 90 millions of adults around the world who suffer from the disease”, he added.
The study involved 44 people with diabetes who underwent a 3-month intermittent fasting dietary intervention. Researchers found that nearly 90% of participants, including those taking blood sugar-lowering agents and insulin, decreased their intake of diabetes medications after fasting intermittent. The 77 % of these people experienced a remission of the disease, suspended their medication for this pathology and maintained it for at least one year.
Three months after completing the diet, 36 of the 55 people who fasted had their type 2 diabetes reversed, compared to only one of those 44 who kept their usual diet. And one year after completing the diet, 11 of the 44 people who followed the fasting diet, 44 % were still in remission from type 2 diabetes.
A study that breaks with convention
Much has been said that diabetes remission can only be achieved in those with less than six years of diagnosis of the disease. In this case, the 77 % of the study participants who managed to control the pathology had been suffering from it for more than six years (6- years).
“Diabetes medications are expensive and constitute a barrier for many patients trying to manage their diabetes independently. effective. Our study saw drug costs decrease by 77% in people with diabetes after intermittent fasting,” concluded Dongbo Liu.
For his part, Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior lecturer at Aston University, said that “although studies have been conducted to show that low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diets can help people with type 2 diabetes achieve remission,this small study is the first to show the use of intermittent fasting.”
The study, although extremely small, believes it is important to follow participants for more years, as high blood sugar can often return. These results add to evidence from a trial led by Newcastle University in the UK that found that nearly half of people on an extremely low-calorie diet of soups and shakes could lower their blood sugar to a level at which you would no longer be considered diabetic.
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