Tag Archives: type 1 diabetes

November 12, 2015 · 6:07 AM

Adam Brown Favors Lower-Carb Over Moderate-Carb Diet for His Diabetes

Use the search box to find the recipe for this low-carb avocado chicken soup

Use the search box to find the recipe for this low-carb avocado chicken soup

Read his amazingly detailed post at Diatribe. Adam, who has type 1 diabetes, figured out during his college days that eating no more that 30 grams of carbs at a time was “a complete gamechanger” for improving his blood sugars. He experimented on himself to see if there was a difference between his usual lower-carb diet (146 grams/day) versus 313 grams/day.

A quote:

To my utter surprise, both diets resulted in the same average glucose and estimated A1c. But there were major tradeoffs:

The higher-carb, whole-grain diet caused four times as much hypoglycemia, an extra 72 minutes per day spent high, and required 34% more insulin. (A less healthy high-carb diet would have been far worse.)

Doubling my daily carbs also added much more effort and produced far more feelings of exhaustion and diabetes failure. It was not fun at all, and the added roller coaster, or glycemic variation, from all the extra carbs made it more dangerous.

See more at: http://diatribe.org/low-carb-vs-high-carb-my-surprising-24-day-diabetes-diet-battle#sthash.pZOgCWVl.dpuf

I think the lower-carb approach is healthier over the long run. Check with your own healthcare provider before making any drastic change in your diabetic diet.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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November 11, 2014 · 2:02 AM

New Podcast Episode Features Professional Low-Carb Diet Proponents

Jimmy Moore posted an interview with Dr. Troy Stapleton and Franziska Spritzler, R.D. They both advocate carbohydrate-restricted diets for management of blood sugars in diabetes. Dr. Stapleton, by the way, has type 1 diabetes; I’ve written about him before. Franziska is available for consultation either by phone, Skype, or in person.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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June 18, 2014 · 11:01 AM

Do Pesticides Cause Type 1 Diabetes?

Maybe, according to a study done in Egypt.

“From the present findings, there is an observed strong association between
some types of pesticides (malathion, lindane, p.p.DDE, o.p.DDD, endrin and
p.p.DDA) and the risk of occurrence of childhood diabetes in relation to
the control non-diabetic group. To the best of our knowledge, this the
first study investigating the association between type 1 diabetes in
children and exposure to pesticides.”

Reference: El-Morsi DA, Rahman RHA, Abou-Arab AAK. Pesticides Residues in Egyptian
Diabetic Children: A Preliminary Study. J Clinic Toxicol. 2012;2:138.

Free full text: http://omicsonline.org/pesticides-residues-in-egyptian-diabetic-children-a-preliminary-study-2161-0495.1000138.pdf

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September 27, 2013 · 5:06 AM

Do Clinical Studies Support Carbohydrate-Restricted Eating in Type 1 Diabetes?

Sweden has lots of blondes

Sweden has lots of blondes

Yes, there are a few. We’ll take a close look at one today. (See the references below for more.)

In the introduction to the study at hand, the authors note:

The estimation of the amount of carbohydrates in a meal has an error rate of 50%. The insulin absorption may vary by up to 30%. It is therefor virtually impossible to match carbohydrates and insulin which leads to unpredictable blood glucose levels after meals. By reducing the carbohydrates and insulin doses the size of the blood glucose fluctuations can be minimized. The risk of hypoglycemia is therefore minimized as well. Around-the-clock euglycemia [normal blood sugar] was seen with 40 g carbohydrates in a group of people with type 1 diabetes [reference #2 below].

The immediate resulting stable, near-normal blood glucose levels allow individuals to predict after-meal glucose levels with great accuracy.

For individuals with type 1 diabetes one year audit/evaluation of group education in this regimen has shown that the short-time lowering of mean hemoglobin A1c by 1 percentage unit and the reduction in mean rate of symptomatic hypoglycemia by 82% was maintained [reference #3].

***

There is no evidence for the use of the widely recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet in type 1 diabetes.

Study Set-Up

Swedish investigators educated study participants on carbohydrate-restricted eating from 2004 to 2006 [reference #1]. They recently audited their medical records for results accumulated over four years. At the outset, participants were given 24 hours of instruction over four weeks. My sense is that they all attended the same diabetes clinic. The subjects’ mean age was 52 years and they had diabetes for an average of 24 years. Seven had gastroparesis. Fourteen used insulin pumps. Of the 48 study subjects, 31 were women, 17 were men. The diet regimen restricted carbohydrates to a maximum of 75 grams a day, mainly by reducing starchy food.

Results

As measured three months after starting the diet, HDL-cholesterol rose and triglycerides fell to a clinically significant degree (p<0.05). Average weight fell by 2.7 kg (a little over a pound); average baseline weight was 77.6 kg (171 lb). Hemoglobin A1c fell from 7.6 to 6.3% (Mono-S method).

As measured one year after start, meal-time insulin (rapid-acting, I assume) fell from 23 to 13 units per day. Long-acting insulin was little changed at around 19 units daily.

By two years into the study, half the participants had stopped adhering to the diet. The remainder were adherent (13 folks) or partly adherent (10). We don’t know what the non-adherents were eating.

Four years out, the adherent group had hemoglobin A1c of 6.0%, and the partly adherents were at 6.9% (p<0.001 for both). The non-adherent group had returned to their baseline HgbA1c (7.5%). Remember, at baseline the average HgbA1c for the group was 7.6%.

The authors don’t say how many participants were still adherent after four years. From Figure 2, adherence seems to have been assessed at 60 months: 8 of the 13 adherent folks were still adherent, and 5 of the 10 partly adherent were still in the game. So, of 48 initial subjects, only 13 were still low-carbing after five years later. By five years out, half of all subjects seem to have been lost to follow-up. So the drop-out rate for low-carbers isn’t as bad as it looks at first blush.

Conclusion

The authors write:

An educational program involving a low-carbohydrate diet and correspondingly reduced insulin doses for informed individuals with type 1 diabetes gives acceptable adherence after 4 years. One in two people attending the education achieves a long-term significant HbA1c reduction.

They estimate that this low-carb diet “may be an option for 10-20% of the patients with type 1 diabetes.” Only 17% of their current diabetes clinic population is interested in this low-carb diet. They didn’t discuss why patients abandon the diet or aren’t interested in the first place. Use your imagination.

Major carbohydrate restriction in type 1 diabetics significantly improves blood sugar control (decreases HgbA1c), lowers insulin requirements, and improves cardiovascular disease risk factors (increases HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides).

Low-carb eating wasn’t very appealing to Swedes in the mid-2000s. I wonder if it’s more popular now with the popularity of LCHF dieting (low-carb, high-fat) in the general population there.

Steve Parker, M.D.

References:

1.  Nielson, J.V., Gando, C., Joensson, E., and Paulsson, C. Low carbohydrate diet in type 1 diabetes, long-term improvement and adherence: A clinical audit. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 2012, 4:23. http://www.dmsjournal.com/content/4/1/23

2.  O’Neill, D.F., Westman, E.C., and Bernstein, R.K. The effects of a low-carbohydrate regimen on glycemic control and serum lipids in diabetes mellitus. Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, 2003, 1(4): 291-298.

3.  Nielsen, J.V., Jönsson, E. and Ivarsson, I. A low carbohydrate diet in type 1 diabetes: clinical experience – A brief report. Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences, 2005, 110(3): 267-273.

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September 3, 2013 · 2:00 AM

Radiologist With Type 1 Diabetes Thrives on Very Low Carb Diet

"Put down the bread and no one will get hurt!"

“Put down the bread and no one will get hurt!”

ABC Radio provides the audio and transcript of an interview with Dr. Troy Stapleton, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 41. Dr. Stapleton lives in Queensland, Australia. At the time of his diagnosis…

I was advised to eat seven serves of bread and cereals, two to three serves dairy, fruit, starchy vegetables, and to balance that intake with insulin. If you add up all those serves, they were recommending a diet of up to about 240 grams of carbohydrates a day, and to balance it with insulin. I was going to be the best patient, and there has been some important trials that show that if you do control your blood glucose well then you can reduce your incidence of the complications.

Dr. Stapleton believes we evolved on a very low carbohydrate diet; the Agricultural Revolution led to our current high carb consumption. He was concerned about the risk of hypoglycemia with standard diabetic diets.

There was a different approach where essentially you went on a very low carbohydrate diet, this made a little bit of sense to me. Why would I eat carbohydrates and then have to balance it with insulin?

Here’s what the diabetes educators told him:

What they say is you need to estimate the amount of carbohydrate you’re going to eat, and then you need to match that carbohydrate dose essentially with an insulin dose. So you sort of look at your food and you go, okay, I’m having 30 grams of carbohydrate and I need one unit of insulin per 15 grams of carbohydrate, so two units. It sounds really quite straightforward, except that it’s very, very difficult to estimate accurately the amount of carbohydrate you’re eating. The information on the packets can be out by 20%. Most people say that your error rate can be around 50%.

And then of course it changes with what you’ve eaten. So if you eat carbohydrates with fat and then you get delayed absorption, then that glucose load will come in, and then the type of carbohydrates will alter how quickly it comes in to your bloodstream. And then of course your insulin dose will vary, your absorption rate will vary by about 30%. Once you think through all the variables, it’s just not possible. You will be able to bring your blood glucose under control, but a lot of the time what happens is you get a spike in your glucose level immediately after a meal, and that does damage to the endothelium of your blood vessels…

Norman Swan: The lining.

Troy Stapleton: That’s correct, it causes an oxidative stress to your endothelium, and that is the damage that diabetes does, that’s why you get accelerated atherosclerosis.

Here’s what happened after he started eating very low carb:

It’s been amazing, it’s been the most remarkable turnaround for me and I just cut out carbohydrates essentially completely, although I do get some in green leafy vegetables and those sorts of things. My blood sugar average on the meter has gone from 8.4 [151 mg/dl] down to 5.3 [95 mg/dl]. My HbA1c is now 5.3, which is in the normal range. My blood pressure has always been good but it dropped down to 115 over 75. My triglycerides improved, my HDL improved, so my blood lipid profile improved. And I would now have a hypoglycaemic episode probably about once a month after exercise. [He was having hypoglycemia weekly on his prior high carb diet with carb counting insulin adjustments.]

He was able to reduce his insulin from about 27 units a day down to 6 units at night only (long-acting insulin)! He admits his low insulin dose may just reflect the “honeymoon period” some type 1s get early on after diagnosis.

Norman Swan: So when you talk to your diabetes educator now, what does he or she say?

Troy Stapleton: Look, they’re interested, but they’ll tell me things and I’ll say, well, that’s actually not true. I’m quite a difficult patient, Norman.

He says he’s eating an Atkins-style diet. Combining the transcript and his notes in the comments section:  1) he doesn’t eat potatoes or other starchy vegetables or bread, 2) he eats meat, eggs, lots of starchy vegetable, some berries and tree nuts, olives, and cheese, 3) an occasional wine or low-carb beer, 4) coffee, and 5) he eats under 50 g/day of carbohydrate, probably  under 30 g. This is a low-carb paleo diet except for the cheese, alcohol, and coffee.  Cheese, alcohol and coffee are (or can be) low-carb, but they’re not pure paleo.

He notes that…

There is an adaption period to a very low carbohydrate diet which takes 4-6 weeks (ketoadaption). During this time symptoms include mild headaches, lethargy, cramps, carb cravings and occasional light headedness. These symptoms all pass.

Read or listen to the whole thing. Don’t forget the comments section. All the blood sugars you see there are in mmol/l; convert them to mg/dl (American!) by multiplying by 18.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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March 8, 2013 · 12:01 AM

James Hirsch Reviews Sonia Sotomayor’s New Book

You may know that she has type 1 diabetes.  Mr. Hirsch writes:

Sonia Sotomayor dove beneath a parked car and scrunched up like a turtle. A hospital employee finally caught her by the foot and dragged her back into the building, with Sonia fighting him every step of the way. Sonia’s diabetes was diagnosed that day. It was the first time she had ever seen her mother cry.

The year was 1962, and the vignette opens Sotomayor’s memoir, My Beloved World, the surprise blockbuster nonfiction book of the year. Named to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009, Sotomayor has been rightfully praised as a pioneer: the High Court’s first Hispanic justice, its third female justice – and its first justice with type 1 diabetes. Though her medical condition is not always front and center in the book, it is a powerful narrative thread to her life story, a cause of anguish but also a source of motivation and ultimately triumph.

Read the rest.

Mr. Hirsch wrote a book on diabetes, Cheating Destiny, that would be of interest to anyone with diabetes.  I reviewed it a few years ago.

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March 6, 2013 · 5:14 AM

A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes In Five Years?

Researchers at the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute are excited about a new therapy they’re developing, call the BioHub.  Riva Greenberg wrote about it at The Huffington Post:

The BioHub is an engineered “mini organ” that will house insulin-producing (islet) cells that, like normally functioning islet cells, sense blood sugar and release the precise amount of insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels. “It will mimic the insulin function of a normal pancreas,” Dr. Camillo Ricordi, DRI’s Scientific Director and Chief Academic Officer, told me in a phone interview. “It will restore natural insulin production for any patient, no matter how long they’ve had diabetes.”

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August 24, 2012 · 8:39 AM

“Doc, How Long Will I Live With My Type 1 Diabetes?”

Type 1 diabetics diagnosed in childhood and born between 1965 and 1980 have an average life expectancy of 68.8 years.  That compares to a lifespan average of 53.4 years for those born between 1950 and 1964.  The figures are based on Pittsburgh, PA, residents and published in a recent issue of Diabetes.

Elizabeth Hughes, one of the very first users of insulin injections, lived to be 73.  She started on insulin around 1922.

Average overall life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.2 years—roughly 76 for men and 81 for women.

Don’t be too discouraged if you have diabetes: you have roughly a 50:50 chance of beating the averages, and medical advances will continue to lengthen lifespan.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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July 24, 2012 · 8:26 PM

Jimmy Moore Interviews Keith Runyan, M.D.

Jimmy posted a recent interview with type 1 diabetic Dr. Keith R. Runyan, who is a nephrologist and internist.

Dr. Runyan is training for his first Great Floridian Triathlon in October, 2012, so he naturally has a great interest in high level athleticism as it intersects with diabetes.

Dr. Runyan’s current carb consumption level didn’t come up specifically in the interview, but his website indicates he’s on a ketogenic diet heavily influenced by Dr. Richard Bernstein.  So I figure he’s eating under 50 grams of digestible carbohydrate daily.  He also tried Loren Cordain’s paleo diet; my sense is that it didn’t help much with his diabetes, but perhaps some.

Overall, the interview strongly supports carbohydrate-restricted eating for folks with diabetes.  Definitely worth a listen for anyone with diabetes who’s not sold on a very-low-carb diet.  If you’re sitting on the fence, at least check out his “About Me” page.

Steve Parker, M.D.

Triathlon: run, swim, bike

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May 29, 2012 · 11:09 PM

Diabetes Plus Bulimia Equals Diabulimia

MedPage Today has a brief article on “diabulimia,” a disorder in type 1 diabetics who withhold insulin in order to lose weight.

After following the women for 11 years, the researchers found that those who restricted insulin had increased rates of diabetes complications, shortened lifespan, and increased mortality risk.

Factors that were associated with insulin restriction included greater eating disorder symptoms, diabetes-specific distress, overall psychological symptoms, and fear of hypoglycemia at baseline.

Diabulimics believe the theory that insulin is a major fat-storage hormone.  Furthermore, the high blood sugar levels resulting from inadequate insulin dosing lead to loss of calories (sugar) via urine.

Steve Parker, M.D.

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