Another mention of veganism and diabetes in the LATimes.
J
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: DawnWatch LA: Vegan diet control of diabetes in LA Times 7/31/06
Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:34:43 -0600
From: DawnWatch <news@dawnwatch.com>
Reply-To: DawnWatch <news@dawnwatch.com>
To: keto0011@umn.edu
Angelenos:
Sally Squire's article on vegan diets controlling diabetes (from last
week's Washington Post) is in the Monday, July 31, Los Angeles Times
(see below). It offers a great opportunity for those who enjoy a
plant-based diet to sing its praises. The Los Angeles Times takes letters at
letters@latimes.com
Los Angeles Times
July 31, 2006 Monday
HEALTH; Features Desk; Part F; Pg. 7
THE LEAN PLATE;
Need to control blood sugar? Carbs might help
Sally Squires, Special to The Times
People with Type 2 diabetes are advised to limit carbohydrates because
of worries these foods could overtax the body's dwindling insulin
production and lessen its ability to process glucose. Now some
scientists are asking if a diet rich in healthful carbohydrates -- whole
grains, beans, fruit and vegetables -- and with just 10% of calories as
fat might be another option.
The idea borrows a lesson from heart disease research, which has shown
that very strict vegetarian diets quite low in fat and very high in
carbohydrates can help reverse blockages -- if people stick with them.
"A diet can be wonderful for you, but if it can't be practically
applied, it can't do much," says Robert Eckel, president of the American
Heart Assn.
In May, Dr. Dean Ornish, a proponent of the very-low-fat approach for
reversing heart disease, reported that this regimen helped people
afflicted with both diabetes and heart disease. Not only did they lose
weight, but their blood cholesterol improved and they didn't show a rise
in unhealthy fats known as triglycerides, as some researchers feared.
Another key finding: Twenty percent of participants who stuck with the
diet for a year were either able to cut their insulin and other
glucose-lowering medication or eliminate it.
Similar results were reported from a National Institutes of
Health-funded study headed by David Jenkins of the University of Toronto
and Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a
pro-vegetarian group. The four-month trial studied 99 people with Type 2
diabetes. Some were asked to follow the standard dietary advice from the
American Diabetes Assn. The others were asked to adhere to a very
strict, low-fat vegan diet, devoid of meat, fish, eggs, dairy or any
other animal products.
Both groups improved blood sugar control and LDL cholesterol levels.
Both lost weight, but the vegan group shed an average of 15 pounds
compared with 6 pounds for the group that adhered to the ADA guidelines.
Like the Ornish study, the vegan group showed no harmful changes in
either triglyceride levels or in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), a
protective form of cholesterol. Results of the study were published in
the August issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
The findings offer more evidence that eating a very-low-fat regimen with
a lot of healthful carbohydrates may not be as harmful as once thought
for those with Type 2 diabetes and could prove to be another treatment
option.
HDL and triglycerides "are often windows of concern, and they were not
modified adversely by this," says the heart association's Eckel. "If
this more radical approach in diabetes can be tolerated better long
term, then we may be on to something here."
Learning to go vegan takes effort, time and some sacrifice, as Vance
Warren, 36, a retired Washington, D.C., police officer found. "I know
the difference between a Morton's steak and a tofu steak," says Warren,
who lost more than 70 pounds while participating in the study and was
able to reduce the medication he takes to control his blood sugar. "It's
like the difference between a Mercedes and a Toyota. The hardest thing
for me was giving up the chicken wings ... but I really don't miss them
now."
Experts caution that the findings are not likely to change current
recommendations for diabetes until much more research is conducted with
larger groups of people. "It's great that the low-fat vegan diet
improved glycemic [blood sugar] control," says Karmeen Kulkarni,
president of health care and education for the American Diabetes Assn.
"But we had 50 people here. We have to see if this is palatable in a
bigger scheme of things on an ongoing basis."
In the meantime, there's wide agreement about how to control or prevent
diabetes, as well as heart disease and many types of cancer:
* Eat more plant-based foods. The more varied, the better.
* Easy on the fat. Gram for gram, it contains more than twice the
calories as protein or carbs. Being overweight or obese are major risk
factors for diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer. Whatever
fat you eat, make it healthy. Reach for fish (not fried), healthy oil
such as canola or olive oil, nuts, avocados and seeds.
* Get active. The Diabetes Prevention Program, a large federally funded
study of people who are just a step shy of developing diabetes, found
that daily exercise (walking is fine) was important to prevent diabetes.
How much? Thirty minutes daily. But that half-hour can be broken down
into 10-minute increments.
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Date: Mon Jul 31 15:26:59 2006
