[susan_hall]

Not eating any food for several days also greatly reduces diabetes symptoms in mammals. I am not clear why this is not the default treatment. If people have trouble with will power then they can always check into a clinic that specializes in fasting. There are thousands of retreats, meditation, and medical clinics that help facilitate fasting. 20 or 30 days without food will resolve most symptoms in most humans.

I've read that in the pre industrial era, humans spent about 10% of their lives facing famine conditions. Our bodies expect a certain amount of starvation. Millions of years of evolution did not prepare us for a world where you can walk into a grocery store and for $8 or $9 get a tub of strawberry ice cream containing as many calories as 2 foxes or a baby antelope (any of which would have taken some work to acquire).

I realize that companies can not get a patent on fasting, so perhaps there is less money in it, but it is still a good option and should be considered for anyone whose other medical conditions do not preclude it.

[BlakePetersen]

>> "20 or 30 days without food will resolve most symptoms in most humans."

If you are a type 2, you are a diabetic due to lifestyle choices like overeating, eating/drinking high-carb foods, not excercising, smoking, etc. If you are a type 1, no matter how good you eat, you will still need to take subcutaneous injections every day to manage blood sugar, your body won't let your pancreas create insulin or glucagon.

For type 1s, this is terrible advice. It won't help and will likely kill you.

For type 2s, this is somewhat sound advice. While I don't imagine too many type 2s who have the discipline necessary to not do that which they have overdone for years for 20 to 30 days, a type 2 eating a lot less (or perhaps fasting entirely under doctor's supervision), it will definitely help better the situation and would be a great step in getting their diabetes under control.

What I find frustrating is that this research is being done for the section of diabetics who actually have control over their diabetic destiny, simply stop being obese by any means necessary. As a type 1, I honestly resent Type 2s who do nothing to better their situation. This research is just another way for Type 2s to not have to deal with the consequences of their actions ahead of me and those like me being liberated from our sharps, glucose monitors and pumps.

Wow, I am raging, better check my levels ;]

[ollysb]

As a newly diagnosed type 2 I have to take objection to your classification of all type 2s as having the condition due to bad lifestyle choices. Admittedly I did share your view point until I was diagnosed, I always assumed it was fried chicken, coca cola guzzling behemoths that it hit. I can't generalise but speaking for myself I haven't eaten junk food in over 10 years(I'm only 34), I haven't eaten processed food (I cook everything from raw ingredients) of any description for nearly as long and have exercised 3-5 times a week during that period (running, weights, swimming, cycling, often up to 2 hours at a time). I've also never been anywhere close to being obese and have been pretty athletic for much of the time. Having been diagnosed I've had no problem at all following the diet plan provided by a nutritionist and I've completely given up alcohol.

[jimrandomh]

> 20 or 30 days without food will resolve most symptoms in most humans.

Your advice is much more lethal than you think. You should not pretend to know things about medicine when you don't.

[susan_hall]

Do you realize that there have been hundreds of studies suggesting that fasting has health benefits? There are too many listed on Google for me to link to them all but here is a random sample of a few.

Start with this one, which was on Hacker News for awhile:

Total Starvation – 382 days without Food

http://cristivlad.com/total-starvation-382-days-without-food...

"I recently came across this study from 1973 in which a 27 years old male has fasted for 382 days under the supervision of researchers from a Scotland University. This is the longest fast ever been recorded.

This patient weighted in 456 pounds (~207 kg) and weighted out 180 pounds (~82 kg). So, he lost 276 pounds (~125kg) during his fast. Five years after the fast ended, the patient’s weight has been constantly around the values of 196 pounds. A.B. had no ill symptoms during and after the fast."

Medically supervised water-only fasting in the treatment of hypertension

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11416824

Intermittent fasting: a dietary intervention for prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease?

http://dvd.sagepub.com/content/13/2/68.long

Wikipedia lists all the fasts undertaken by Ghandi, his longest being 21 days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fasts_undertaken_by_Mah...

There are all the Christian sites that promote fasting so you can be more like Jesus:

https://danielfast.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/christian-fastin...

There's endless other religious sites I could link to. In India the yogis are known for very long fasts.

You should try to educate yourself on this subject. There is an abundance of information that is only a Google search away.

[jimrandomh]

First of all, intermittent fasting is different from calorie restriction is different from prolonged fasting. Prolonged fasting is much more dangerous than the other two.

And second, what applies to healthy people, metabolically speaking, usually does not apply to people with diabetes. I did a Pubmed search before I posted my comment, and wasn't able to find a single example of prolonged fasting having even been tried in T2DM patients.

As someone with T1DM (the kind caused by autoimmunity, not the kind caused by obesity), my expectation is that a T2DM who tried this in an ICU would probably experience hypoglycemia and abort, while someone who tried it outside an ICU would probably die.

[BlakePetersen]

As a type 1 diabetic, fasting for 20 to 30 days would likely kill me.

Stop making blanket statements.

It's offensive that you are perpetuating the false belief that all diabetics can fix their problems by simply fasting.

[deeviant]

You do realize that there is a difference between "a study suggesting something" and actual reality, right? Studies have conflicting findings all the time.

I, for one, believe there can be benefits of fasting, but I don't make the leap of: fasting might be beneficial for diabetes patiences -> thus fasting is a cure for diabetes.

It is this type of thinking which causes people to decide that vaccinations are unnecessary(and even evil) and cancer can be cured by a vegan gluten-free diet.

[beagle3]

What exactly are you referring to?

20-30 days of water, no-food is pretty mundane. You can get to a year if vitamins and minerals are supplemented. E.g. http://journalism.about.com/od/profiles/a/Fasting-For-20-Day...

Can you give a reference that would support your "lethal" statement? Because my reading and experience is contrary.

[deeviant]

Because you eventually have to eat. And also eating and hunger are heavily linked to all sort of hormonal/psychological impulses(ask anybody that has tried and failed to lose weight), staving yourself out for a few days is a great way to encourage a binge, which creates a massive blood sugar spike and leaves said diabetic far behind where they began.

Also, in pre-industrial era(well, pre artificial insulin), diabetes was a death sentence, although the treatment of the time was related to diet(high protein very low carb). However, just because something is a treatment, or relieves some aspects of a disease, does not make it a cure. The diabetes patients lived longer with the modified diets, but they still died in fairly short order and suffered through absolutely horrible symptoms.

[makeset]

> 20 or 30 days without food will resolve most symptoms in most humans.

You literally don't know what you are talking about here, and spewing bullshit like this is downright irresponsible. If someone holding you in high regard assumes otherwise and acts on your quackery, you may have their blood on your hands.

[susan_hall]

No, the blood would be on the hands of the medical professionals in the clinic, or the owners of the meditation retreat, if for some reason they didn't keep watch on those who might need help.

[k-mcgrady]

>> "20 or 30 days without food will resolve most symptoms in most humans."

Considering humans will die fasting from about 40 days on 20-30 days seems very reckless.