Intermittent fasting: Can it treat or reverse diabetes? – Medical News Today
Share on PinterestA review considers whether fasting might help treat diabetes. AleksandarGeorgiev/Getty Images
- Intermittent fasting involves a regular pattern of eating few or no calories for a fixed period, which can vary from 12 hours every day to 1 or more days each week.
- Some people follow these diets hoping to lose weight, improve their overall health, or both.
- A review of the available evidence suggests that these diets can also reduce or even remove the need for medication in people with type 2 diabetes.
- More research is necessary before doctors can recommend widespread use of the diets for people with the condition.
In recent years, intermittent fasting has gained popularity as a way to lose weight, improve health, and enhance performance.
Some studies suggest that this dietary approach may even extend healthy lifespan without the need for the severe caloric restriction that classic anti-aging diets entail.
People who practice intermittent fasting eat few or no calories for anything from 12 hours a day to 1 or more days every week. The former technique is known as time-restricted feeding, whereas the latter is known as periodic fasting.
A recent review of the evidence suggests that this type of diet may help people with type 2 diabetes safely reduce or even remove their need for medication.
However, people should seek the advice of a diabetes professional before embarking on such a diet.
The review, by Dr. Michael Albosta and Jesse Bakke, Ph.D., of Central Michigan University College of Medicine in Mount Pleasant, appears in Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes affects 34.2 million people in the United States, which equates to about 1 in every 10 people. In 2017, it was the seventh leading cause of death in the country.
People with type 2 diabetes have abnormally high concentrations of glucose in their blood, known as hyperglycemia.
Several factors may contribute to hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. These include reduced secretion of the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, and reduced sensitivity of the body’…….