14 Oct Very Low Calorie Diet Improved Some Parameters of Diabetes
Dr. Guofang Chen
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Guofang Chen MD
Endocrine and Diabetes Center
Jiangsu Province Hospital on Integration of Chinese and Western Medicine
Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Guofang Chen: With the high prevalence of diabetes in China (about 11.6% in adults from 2013 data), finding a way to improve remission of diabetes, and decrease the risk of developing diabetes, can be considered urgent. Very low calorie diet (VLCD) has been reported as a quick therapeutic tool to improve glucose control in obese type 2 diabetic patients. We investigated the effects of short-term Very low calorie diet in both lean and overweight/obese type 2 diabetic patients in China. We find that short-term VLCD effectively improved insulin sensitivity, beta-cell function, glucose control, and lipid profile in overweight/obese rather than lean patients with type 2 diabetes in China.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Guofang Chen: We all know that diet and exercise are the cornerstone of glucose control in both diabetics and pre-diabetics. However, it’s a tough task for them to maintain the long-term diet intervention.Very low calorie diet gives us an option to keep on diet mandatory in hospital. When the patients saw the significant changes of body weight and metabolic parameters, they will have a stronger willingness to adhere to the calorie restriction therapy after discharged.
For the newly onset type 2 diabetic patients, or obese pre-diabetic patients, they can consider Very low calorie diet as the first choice, which may keep them away from variety of drugs.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Guofang Chen: Until now, the long-term outcome of very low calorie diet is still controversial, like the issue involved weight regain and maintenance of metabolic improvement. It has been argued that weight regain happened as soon as the patient is shifted to a refeeding diet. Thereafter, the long-term follow up is necessary to illustrate the final effects of VLCD, and to encourage the patients to keep on a healthy diet.
Citation:
Diabetes Metab. 2015 Oct 1. pii: S1262-3636(15)00121-4. doi: 10.1016/j.diabet.2015.09.003. [Epub ahead of print]
Effects of a very low-calorie diet on insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in overweight/obese and lean type 2 diabetes patients.
Liu C1, Li C1, Chen J2, Liu Y1, Cheng Q2, Xiang X2, Chen G3.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26439662
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Guofang Chen MD (2015). Very Low Calorie Diet Improved Some Parameters of Diabetes
Last Updated on October 14, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD