suziezuzie wrote: >By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent >Thu Jul 27, 2:34 PM ET > > > >WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting >out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more >weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, >researchers said on Thursday. > > > Beyonce >Christina Aguilera >Keyshia Cole >Christina Milian >Janet Jackson Mariah Carey > > >They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney >function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a >journal published by the American Diabetes Association. > >Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most >because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of >the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on the >standard diet. > >"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes >first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president >of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped >conduct the study, told a news conference. > >An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which >results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise >habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney >failure, blindness and limb loss. > >Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the >University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 >people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low- >fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes >Association diet. > >After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet >and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to >stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control >medications, or lowered the doses. > >The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the >diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg). > >An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points >in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet. > >DROPPING DRUGS > >A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over >the preceding three months. > >In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they >were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 >percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group. > >The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and >dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar. > >The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into >account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this >diet cut calories significantly, and were told to eat sugary and >starchy foods in moderation. > >All 99 participants met weekly with advisers, who advised them on >recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets, and >offered encouragement. > >"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. >David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the >study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no >good because nobody follows it for very long." > >Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor >of medicine, said everyone diagnosed with diabetes is told to start >eating more carefully. > >"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen >told the news conference. > >The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than traditional >approaches," Cohen said. > >Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in >Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered >uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 >months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds (34 kg) lighter," >Warren told the news conference. > This is nothing new in ayurvedic circles where you usually use anti-kapha diets for these problems. But I guess western medicine feels it has to "discover" things even though they were discovered centuries ago. Sigh.
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