Fasting helps prevent type 2 diabetes
There are several things that the specialist recommended to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, including taking care of the weight, a healthy diet and be more active, however, periodic fasting may also be a useful tool to reduce other factors risk as cholesterol, according to a study by the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Utah, USA The research results presented at the 74th International Convention of the American Diabetes Association(ADA), refer that fasting causes a biological process in the body that makes the bad cholesterol from the fat cells into energy , thus minimizing the risk factors for diabetes . The researchers found that after 10 to 12 hours of fasting, the body begins to seek other sources of energy in the body to hold and use the LDL cholesterol, known as “bad”, stored in fat cells for energy. According to the results, when the fast is still regularly for six weeks, you can decrease by 12% the levels of cholesterol.
Fasting cholesterol and diabetes “Fasting causes hunger and stress and in response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a fuel source instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body,” said Benjamin Horne, principal investigator of the study. “This is important because the fewer fat cells have the body, you are less likely to experience insulin resistance or diabetes,” established. “Fasting could become an important intervention on diabetes,” said Horne. “Although we have studied fasting and health benefits for years, we knew we could not deliver the benefits that we observed related to the risk of diabetes,” he added.
Clinical trial To reach their conclusions, the researchers recruited a group of prediabetic participants, men and women between 30 and 69 years old with at least three metabolic risk factors. These risk factors include: a large waistline, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure and high fasting blood sugar. During the first days of fasting, cholesterol rose slightly, however, after 6 weeks of testing, cholesterol levels decreased by 12% in addition to weight loss. Dr. Horne noted that although fasting could one day be prescribed as treatment to prevent diabetes, should be done under strict medical supervision. “There are many books that recommend people to fast for two or three days a week,” he said, “but there are risks in this practice, and little evidence that such diets are safe.”
Prediabetes The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, for its acronym in English) refers to a person with prediabetes, ie glucose levels higher blood than normal but not high enough to diagnose with diabetes are more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Losing weight (at least 5 to 10% of your current weight) may prevent or delay diabetes. This is 10 to 20 pounds (4.5 to 9 kg) for someone who weighs 200 pounds (91 kg). You can lose weight by eating fewer calories and fat, and exercising at least 30 minutes per day. Exercise makes insulin in your body work better.
The fearsome diabetes Diabetes has become an epidemic that affects nearly 350 million people worldwide according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). It is expected to become the seventh leading cause of death in 2030 and the number of cases reach 552 million, or an adult in 10 in the world. According to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English), the number of Americans with diabetes increased from 26 million in 2010 to 29,000,000 (9% of the population) in 2012. One in four people with diabetes do not know they have the disease and 86 million people (more than a third of adults) have what doctors call “prediabetes”. This means that your blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. For the ADA, the complications of diabetes represent a load of 5 to 10% of the health budget of the country. In 2012, in the U.S. spent 245 billion dollars in direct medical costs, which includes emergency and hospital care, doctor visits and drugs. Of that, 69 billion dollars represent indirect costs, including lower productivity at work or lost productivity and premature death. The ADA states that it is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide and that people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes die of 5-10 years before people without diabetes due to cardiovascular diseases. S