DIABETES: CAN IT BE CURED?

Let's start by making an important distinction

Diabetes type 1
Self-immune disease where the immune system destroys pancreatic beta cells, so the body can no longer produce insulin.
It arises in childhood/adolescence, rarely in adulthood.
Not related to lifestyle but to genetic predisposition and environmental triggers.
Need to take insulin for life because the pancreas no longer produces it

Diabetes type 2
Combination of insulin resistance and pancreas not producing enough insulin
Typical of adulthood, but increasingly present in overweight children and adolescents
Strongly related to lifestyle: sedentary lifestyle, overweight and diet
If caught in time, before the pancreas stops producing insulin, it can be sent into remission

So no, diabetes cannot be cured, but:
Type 1 diabetes can be managed through diet in order to use as little insulin as possible
type 2 diabetes if caught early, can be sent into remission through diet and lifestyle. Once sent into remission it will be necessary to continue to maintain an appropriate lifestyle and diet, otherwise type 2 diabetes will return.

Remission means that signs and symptoms of the disease become inactive or undetectable, but the disease has not disappeared. In type 2 diabetes, it means that blood glucose has returned to normal values without medication, but the risk of recurrence remains. Remission is a reversible state: if diet, weight, or lifestyle changes, the disease may re-emerge.

WARNING: Diet and lifestyle can send type 2 diabetes into remission and can also prevent it.

Two useful resources on diabetes can be found on our site:
Type 1 diabetes, therapeutic carbohydrate reduction - go to pdf
Type 2 diabetes, Dr. Unwin's low-carb protocol - go to pdf

IMPORTANT: Diabetes is no small matter, as it is a major risk factor for several diseases (1):
infarction
stroke
peripheral amputations
Cognitive impairment (dementia, Alzheimer's disease)
Nephropathy (up to and including renal failure)
Neuropathy (nerve damage, tingling
Retinopathy (leading cause of acquired blindness)
fertility problems and erectile dysfunction
recurrent infections
There is also a correlation between diabetes and psychiatric diseases (2)

Sending type 2 diabetes into remission or keeping blood sugar stable when it is no longer possible to send it into remission or in case of type 1 diabetes, reduces the risks of developing the complications described above.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Now I would like to tell the story of two extraordinary men. I call these kinds of human beings “changemakers” people who change things.

The first physician to bring much visibility to carbohydrate reduction as a therapeutic approach in type 1 diabetes was Dr. Richard K. Bernstein author of the book Diabetes Solution, available unfortunately only in English. Dr. Bernstein was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1946, at the age of 12. By the late 1960s Dr. Bernstein's health was deteriorating because of his diabetes. In 1969 he ordered one of the first glucose meters and began to realize how his blood sugar was affected by what he ate. Then in 1972 he discovered that the complications he was suffering from had been solved in animal experiments by normalizing his blood sugar. Over the next year he conducted several tests on himself and finally managed to have stable normal blood sugar. He was no longer continuously tired, his triglyceride levels were lowered, he was finally able to put on muscle mass, and many other improvements. He was enthusiastic about his discovery and described it a scientific article with the hope that doctors would adopt it for their patients. “The rejection letters I received are a testimony that people tend to ignore the obvious if it conflicts with the orthodoxy of their training.” No one listened to him, and so in 1979, at age 45, he enrolled in medical school. In 1983 at age 49 he opened his medical practice where, over the next 40 years, he helped thousands of diabetics live healthy and long lives through his method. Dr. Bernstein died at the age of 90. He continued to publish his “Diabetes University” until the age of 88, always lucid.

Dr. Unwin, on the other hand, is a British family physician. In 2012, Dr. Umwin worriedly scheduled a visit with a patient of his with type 2 diabetes who was no longer taking metformin. The patient arrived in splendid shape: 19 kg less and diabetes in remission “He had been prescribing me metformin for about 10 years and never asked about the side effects or offered an alternative. Thanks to the Internet, I discovered that low-carb could send my diabetes into remission-I lost weight and feel great!” Dr. Unwin was stunned “I didn't think it was possible, I always thought of type 2 diabetes as a chronic, degenerative disease.” Dr. Unwin thus began to explore the topic further, and in 2013 he and his psychologist wife began offering a low-carb program to his patients with type 2 diabetes. The results were extraordinary (3): out of 169 patients, 51% achieved remission (without medication) of type 2 diabetes. The rate rises to 77% in patients sick for less than 1 year and drops to 20% for patients sick for more than 15 years. In addition, in 2022 alone, his clinic saved the English health care system nearly €80,000 compared with its neighboring clinics. Lives improved and money saved, which is why in 2016 Dr. Unwin won the NHS Innovator of the Year award (NHS is the public health system in the United Kingdom). If today in England the low carb diet is recognized and recommended by the health system as an approach to type 2 diabetes, it is also thanks to Dr. Unwin's efforts. Despite his successes, Dr. Unwin has not stopped: he continues his outreach through the PHC Public Heath Collaboration, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving population health and saving national service money. The PHC has been organizing a conference On metabolic health in England. You can review the talks on the page Youtube Of the association.

Things change only when someone makes an effort to make them change
Be aware, Be conscious, Live Better

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-018-4711-2
2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21379357/
3) https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/bmjnph/early/2023/01/02/bmjnph-2022-000544.full.pdf