People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said on Thursday.
They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association.
Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on the standard diet.
"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference.
An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss.
Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet.
After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses.
The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg).
An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.
DROPPING DRUGS
A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.
In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.
The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar.
The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly, and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation.
All 99 participants met weekly with advisers, who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets, and offered encouragement.
"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long."
Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone diagnosed with diabetes is told to start eating more carefully.
"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen told the news conference. The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than traditional approaches," Cohen said. Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds (34 kg) lighter," Warren told the news conference.
All the research in the world couldn't convince me that a vegan diet is a healthy diet. It defies our biological makeup. And there's something about that diet that makes them critical of non-vegans. lol
Vegan diet overall is healthier but you can't reverse a disease such as diabetes. It's a lifelong disease that will NEVER go away. You can certainly control it but it won't vanish just like that - no matter what they tell you.
Like PC, I believe we're all onimvores (spelling) and that we need meat to survive. Having said that though, we should really cut down on our servings on meat and fat. More veggies, more legumes and more water.
Well, I'm going all the way out on the limb, but it seems to me, the only vegans I know are pastey faced and seem to lack vitality. Their stories about the horrors of meat do more to put me off them than it does meat. I've said it before....man didn't fight his way to the top of the food chain to suck on tofu. (not that there's anything wrong with it)
(//vny!://www.powershack.net/Sports/Images/pepper-steak.jpg)
I'm for moderation. Mix and mashing.
Let's hear it for cow, pig and chicken!!!
Yum.
(//vny!://www.maltafisheries.gov.mt/pics/kidscorner_infopage_cowpigchick.jpg)
lol.....here here SomeChick !!!
I like to freak out my coworkers now and then by declaring "I need a big slab of cow."
For some reason, we can say "I want some chicken," or "I want some fish", yet we find it odd to say "I want some cow," or "I want some pig."
I wonder why that is?
By the way, don't get me wrong, when my body yells for veggies, I'm all about the grazing.
LOL, you gals are funnay!
I still like meat but have gone a week without because I felt like pigging out on veggies and fruits.
The "I want some cow" could also mean that you want some leather....for the whipping...? (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/12.gif)
P.C. wrote:
Well, I'm going all the way out on the limb, ___________________________________________
Hahaha!!! How did I miss that lovely little pun?
purelife wrote:
The "I want some cow" could also mean that you want some leather....for the whipping...? (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/12.gif) [/DIV]
___________________________________________________
I do have a whip, actually. Well a dressage crop about three feet long. I got it from the VP of advertising at a magazine I was working at after we had a big scrap. He bent over after I opened it, hoping I'd whip him in front of the staff.
I told him he hadn't earned that yet.
Cool. It sounds like you worked for a fun office!
One of the offices that I used to work for hired a stripper for this guy's 40th b-day! OHMIGAWD!
I LOVE the veggies....sometimes I could dine on a meal of nothing but. However I get clear signals (or cravings) for fish or meat. I listen to my body, not the scientists who contradict themselves every third week. Red wine GOOD....red wine bad. Eggs GOOD....eggs bad. Chocolate GOOD....chocolate bad. I'm with Sportsdude....moderation. My grandma who lived to a ripe old age, with all her faculties and energy to spare. ate the richest diet that would send a dietician into cardiac arrest. Butter, eggs, cream.....etc. She was not overweight by an ounce, because the diet her body 'craved' gave her the energy needed to burn what she ate.
There has never been more health problems since it was decided that synthetic spread was better than pure butter, pills to supplement all the natural things we're told not to eat, milk substitutes, artificial everything. The problem isn't diet.....it's what we do after we eat (or what we don't do)
Running, walking, playing, swimming, gardening, working etc.
*rofl....I feel like some cow*
;)
You know, if we were more like children, we would be healthier. You see little kids refusing to eat something one day, and pigging out on certain food groups on others. Some days they eat next to nothing, other days they're a bottomless pit. They are more in tune with their bodies because they haven't been filled with all of the nutritional "education" we have.
I try to eat like a little kid. Just ... neater.
I try to eat like a little kid. Just ... neater.[/DIV]
So just pizza and gummi worms? just kidding!
My kid actually loves his veggies too. He craves broccoli, asparagus and green peas??!!!!!
I literally go through days where lightly steamed broccholi is all I want/crave. I'll eat a huge pile of it and then steam some more.
Other days, all I want is protein.
You know, if we were more like children, we would be healthier. You see little kids refusing to eat something one day, and pigging out on certain food groups on others. Some days they eat next to nothing, other days they're a bottomless pit. They are more in tune with their bodies because they haven't been filled with all of the nutritional "education" we have.
I try to eat like a little kid. Just ... neater.
Perfectly said !
Now that we AREN'T little children, I know that when my body is telling me to eat something, that is not just about desire....I believe the 'signals' let me know what my body is lacking. Need, over want.
Mmmmmm....perfectly cooked broccoli.[/DIV]
Yes, cooked just till it's hot enough to melt some butter but still crunchy.
I'm getting hungry.
Now that I'm drooling, I think I'll head to the market for some fresh veggies.
Have a great day SomeChick.....thanks for making my lunch decision....lol.
(//vny!://www.pcrm.org/health/recipes/images/broccoli.jpg) Yes.....a dreamy amount of butter.....cracked pepper and a hint o salt !!!!
Eat a mini tree for me too. :)
Funny I don't have a sweet tooth. I have to force myself to eat sweets. Would rather eat something else.
Most ppl who claim they don't actually have a sweet tooth usually crave sweets in some other forms such fruits, pop... etc.
Simple refined starch converts to sugar very easily. We don't think about items like rice, white bread etc... but they do convert to sugar quite easily.
I agree with moderation when it comes to eating. Use your common sense and listen to your body when it comes to food.
well if its fruit you're talking about then yeah I'm a fruitaholic. I love fruit I hate it when people put sugar on my strawberries. Eck. I just like them plain please.
Me too, Sportsdude....no sugar on my strawberries for me, please.
The only fruit I don't like is cantelope, papaya and mango. Ptewwwii. Tastes like soap. ( yes....I went through a couple of mouth-washings as a kid)
Ooooh, I love mangoes. They're my weakness.
I do adore chocolate dipped strawberries though....................... yummy. *sigh*
So I look at my diet plan and you know how many blueberries I can take in one sitting? 15. (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Sad/2.gif)
Lise.....silly girl....you can have 3 extra (for Lise Jr.)
this one asian food buffet near my house has a choc fountain where you can dip strawberries.
purelife wrote:
Cool. It sounds like you worked for a fun office!
One of the offices that I used to work for hired a stripper for this guy's 40th b-day! OHMIGAWD![/DIV]
[FONT color=#0000bf]To Lise: did they ever pay you for it?[/FONT]
Maybe I'll try it for a few of months some day (if my wife allows me).
At least I do one thing that's been shown to prevent the onset of diabetes: drink massive amounts of coffee.