I picked up this link at The Motley Fool's low carb message boards . . .

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...ection=general

Seems they are doing a study in New Zealand with how an Atkins Diet affects diabetics.

Start of story goes great . . . then you get to the zinger . . .

the doctor doing the study doesn't think the food they are eating is making the difference! (I am paraphrasing cause article is copyrighted.) He goes on to say that it's the weight loss itself that is improving their diabetes and how you lose weight doesn't matter!!

You know, low carb gets NO RESPECT!

__________________
Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

Great article, Alida! I have to disagree with the Dr.'s reasoning, too. I have now known many a diabetic to normalize their blood sugars within weeks of changing their way of eating ... long before they've lost any significant amount of weight.

It only stands to reason that if one eats in a way that has a minimum impact on blood glucose levels, then no (or less) extra help (i.e. meds and/or insulin) is needed to reduce blood glucose levels. I suspect that more and better studies will show this.

__________________

Hey, Alida. I didn't know that you were a Fool. (That's Fool with a capital F, not lower case fool...which is a good thing on the Motley Fool site. LOL)
I've been posting on the site for about two years, but only recently started reading and posting a bit on the low carb forum.

I read the article. I was shocked to read that 1/3 of the Maori people were diagnosed with diabetes. I'm not diabetic, but I've suffered hypogycemic symptoms for years...which I've heard can be a precurser to diabetes. I hope this way of eating thwarts that from ever happening to me.

__________________
Melissa

Maggie, YES! My husband just recently switched to "sorta" low carb . . . the only thing he does not want to give up is his Cheerios in the AM . . . but his readings are already so much better and he has cut his meds in half!

Melissa, I've been a Fool since about 1996! Have not posted on their LC board . . . just lurk!

__________________
Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

I've seen this article before (recently). It seems to me the only way to prove to this stubborn doctor that it is the type of diet is to have two test groups. One group on low carb and one on low fat - high carb regims. Then he would see the difference in their blood sugar levels and need for insulin even though both groups lost some weight. I feel that his conclusions are very non-scientific considering the way he conducted his study.
Karen

__________________

A few years ago I found a book in the library about the men who discovered insulin. It was very interesting. The most interesting thing was that there was a lot of information about how diabetes was treated before the discovery of insulin. It was with a very low calorie diet that was mostly fat with some protein and NO CARBS! Even though this couldn't save Type I's in the long run, it did prolong their lives. The idea was to keep blood sugars as low as possible through diet. When I read that, I thought it was amazing that doctors today could be so fooled by the low fat hype when they know how they treated the disease before insulin was available.

Melissa -- I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia about 20 years ago and told to eat a lowcarb diet. That's how I found Dr. Atkins. Unfortunately, in the '90s I listened to the lowfat hype and stopped eating lowcarb while I was pregnant. I went from 130 pounds to almost 300. Before then, I kept my hypoglycemia under control for 10 years. I began to have borderline diabetes readings and went back to lowcarbing. No problems. Stick with lowcarb and you can avoid diabetes.

__________________
Law1
Lowcarb since July 2001
296/211/150

Law1 -- very interesting! Now I will know what to tell people when they are aghast that my husband is NOT following the ADA diet . . . but a lower carb one!

__________________
Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135