Trendy celebrity fasting diets can cure diabetes: study

By Mark Waghorn via SWNS

Trendy fasting diets favored by celebrities can cure diabetes, according to new research.

Patients who ate intermittently ended the need for painful jabs, the study found. They had the type 2 form linked to unhealthy lifestyles.

Average blood sugar levels fell to less than 6.5 percent in a year - defined as complete remission.

Time-restricted eating has become fashionable - even for those who don't have the metabolic disease.

Proponents include Gisele Bundchen, Jennifer Aniston, Kourtney Kardashian and Scarlett Johansson. They go without food between certain hours - or on specific days.

Lead author Dr. Dongbo Liu, of Hunan Agricultural University in China, said: "Type 2 diabetes is not necessarily a permanent, lifelong disease.

"Diabetes remission is possible if patients lose weight by changing their diet and exercise habits."

The Chinese team put dozens of diabetics in China on an intermittent fasting program.
After three months, almost 90 percent had reduced their medication.

They included those who took blood sugar-lowering pills and insulin injections. Over half discontinued therapy - and maintained the improvement for at least 12 months.

Liu said: "Our research shows intermittent fasting can lead to diabetes remission in people with type 2 diabetes.

"These findings could have a major impact on the over 537 million adults worldwide who suffer from the disease."

Type 2 diabetes usually comes on in middle age. Men with pot bellies and women with muffin tops, or love handles, are most prone.

It affects more than four million Britains, with cases continuing to rise owing to the obesity crisis. It is even becoming prevalent in younger people.

Intermittent fasting diets have become popular in recent years as an effective weight loss regime.

With intermittent fasting, you only eat during particular windows of the day or week.

Doing it for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple of days a week can help your body burn fat. It reduces the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

The study also challenges the conventional view diabetes can only be reversed in the first six years.

Two-thirds of volunteers who achieved remission had suffered the condition longer - up to eleven years in some cases.

Liu added: "Diabetes medications are costly and a barrier for many patients who are trying to effectively manage their diabetes.

"Our study saw medication costs decrease by 77 percent in people with diabetes after intermittent fasting."