By Adam Pope | UAB News
New research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, shows that adults with Type 2 diabetes who follow a low-carbohydrate diet might experience improvements in their beta-cell function, potentially helping them manage their condition more effectively and potentially reduce or eliminate the need for medication.
More than 38 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 90 percent of them have Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes usually presents in people who are 45 or older. However, it is becoming more common in children, teenagers and young adults too.
People with Type 2 diabetes have a compromised beta-cell response to blood sugar, possibly due in part to eating too many carbohydrates. Beta-cell failure or insufficiency on top of insulin resistance is responsible for the development and progression of Type 2 diabetes.
Beta-cells are endocrine cells in the pancreas that produce and release insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels.
“This study shows that people with Type 2 diabetes on a low-carbohydrate diet can recover their beta-cells, an outcome that cannot be achieved with medication,” said lead study author Barbara Gower, Ph.D., chair of the UAB...
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