A diet designed to imitate the effects of fasting was found to reverse diabetes. The diet reprogrammed cells, reducing the symptoms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in mice.
The paper supporting this finding was conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC), and published, Feb. 23, in the journal Cell.
Diet Mimicking Fasting Reduced Symptoms Of Diabetes
The diet allowed the growth of new pancreatic cells that produce insulin, thus reducing the symptoms of diabetes. The research is the latest in a series of studies demonstrating the medical benefits associated with fasting and fasting-mimicking diets.
The subjects were administered with food in cycles of fasting-mimicking diet and normal diet. This dietary habit was successful in reprogramming cells that do not produce insulin.
"By activating the regeneration of pancreatic cells, we were able to rescue mice from late-stage type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We also reactivated insulin production in human pancreatic cells from type 1 diabetes patients," noted Valter Longo, lead author of the research and director of the Longevity Institute at the USC.
The adult cells were reprogrammed and the organs allowed a process of regeneration, as part of which damaged cells were replaced with new ones that were fully functional.
"These results suggest that, as a result of the FMD and re-feeding cycle, the pancreatic islets contain an elevated number of cells with features of progenitor cells, which may differentiate and generate insulin-producing cells," noted the research.
In patients who suffer from a late-stage type 2 diabetes, the pancreas loses the beta cells responsible for insulin production, thus creating an unstable sugar level in the bloodstream. The paper documents the reversal of diabetes in adult mice, which were administered with fasting-mimicking diet for four days a week.
As a result of this diet, the mice were not only able to produce insulin again but have also reduced insulin resistance, thus having a more stable level of glucose in the bloodstream. The same results were obtained from mice with more advanced forms of the disease.
The next step after the publication of the current results is conducting a clinical trial with human subjects. The researchers are optimistic about the chances of this potential treatment when it comes to encouraging insulin production among people who suffer from type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes, A National Problem
Diabetes remains a national problem in the United States, although the rates of diagnosis have started to drop. More than 29 million people suffer from diabetes across the country, and 86 million have prediabetes, which increases both the risk of developing diabetes as well as other chronic diseases, according to the CDC.
Among people who suffer from diabetes, between 90 and 95 percent are diagnosed with type 2, while type 1 accounts for approximately 5 percent. Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2013, and it is also the main cause of kidney failure, adult-onset blindness, and lower-limb amputations.
Aside from being a medical condition that negatively affects the quality of life, diabetes is also very expensive when it comes to treatment, accounting for more than 20 percent of health care spending.
