Diabetes can be reversed?

By EDUARDO GONZALES, MD

March 1, 2011, 1:28am

 Q. Last week, I was diagnosed to have diabetes when my annual medical examination showed my fasting blood sugar (FBS) to be 140 mg/dL. I was advised to diet (I am 50 lbs overweight) and exercise and to report for follow up after a month. Is it possible to treat diabetes without drugs? Is there no cure for diabetes yet?

--jeena r@yahoo.com

A. There is no cure for diabetes yet, but it can be prevented and reversed. Reversing diabetes simply means bringing down a diabetic’s blood sugar level to normal without the use of drugs. In fact, your doctor is probably hoping your diabetes can still be reversed with diet and exercise that is why he has not prescribed you any medicines yet.

Diabetes mellitus is caused either by the failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin or the inability of the cells of the body to respond appropriately to insulin, or both. Insulin is a substance that allows glucose (sugar) in blood to enter the cells of the body where it is utilized as the main energy source of the cells. In diabetes, glucose is unable to enter the cells, thus, it builds up in blood while at the same time the cells literally starve.

The persistently high blood sugar level in diabetes invariably leads to a variety of serious, long-term complications that gradually but progressively damage the blood vessels and other tissues of various organs. When left untreated, diabetes leads to poor healing of wounds, especially of the extremities; heart and brain damage that eventually result in heart attack and stroke; blurring of vision and blindness; kidney failure; nerve damage that results in muscle weakness and reduced sensation; and, impairment of the immune system that bring about susceptibility to infection.

There are two main types of diabetes mellitus, type 1 and type 2, but several other rare types exist including gestational diabetes mellitus that occurs during pregnancy.

Type 1 diabetes accounts for about five to 10 percent of all cases of diabetes. It is an autoimmune disease that develops when the body’s defense system (immune system), for still unknown reasons, turns awry and attacks and destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes usually arises in childhood or early adulthood. It can neither be cured nor reversed because the basic problem is lack or absence of insulin.

Type 2 diabetes (the type that you evidently have) accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of all cases of diabetes. Initially, people with this condition produce enough insulin, but for unknown reasons, the cells do not respond appropriately to it. Subsequently, over a period of years, insulin production by the pancreas decreases.

Type 2 diabetes is the result of a poor genetic makeup coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and faulty eating habits. It is a lifestyle disease, the detritus of inactivity and unhealthy food that leads to weight gain and obesity. Indeed, 80 percent of overweight people develop diabetes. People who are overweight, especially if their excess weight is in their belly, are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes because the fat in their tissues give rise to insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes is also incurable, but many times, it can be reversed. In fact many people have been able to reverse their diabetes by adopting the very same measures that have been proven to prevent the disease: Maintenance of a desirable body weight, moderate exercise and proper diet. If people with type 2 diabetes can eliminate their excess weight by exercising and limiting carbohydrates and alcohol, then it is possible for their glucose levels to drop back into the normal range.

Incidentally, not all type 2 diabetes can be reversed. In your case, you can try reversing the condition for a few months, but if your blood sugar level is still persistently high, you may have to add medicines to your diet and exercise regimen, to lower your blood sugar.

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