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Originally Posted by Lisa N
Good question! The cynical side of me thinks that using a method of eating that effectively controls diabetes in many type 2 diabetics wouldn't be too good for business for the pharmaceutical companies.
As for why hasn't low carb been used to treat diabetics...it has! My dad is a retired doctor (still kickin' at nearly 92) and tells me that when he was beginning his medical practice, the diet of choice for diabetics was low carb. Of course, it was also low fat (a detail that we still don't see eye to eye on, but he can't argue with my results after 3+ years). It was only with the advent of reliable insulin and oral medications that the diets for diabetics started changing to allow for more carbohydrate intake to where we have the ADA today telling diabetics that it's perfectly okay to eat sugar "as long as they cover it with additional medication".  |
Hi again, Lisa! I can imagine the battles you waged over the "low fat" issue. You of course discovered how hard it is to overcome the standard views.
But Lisa, again, can I stress it is not just a matter of controlling the diabetes in the sense of controlling such things as blood sugar. Of course, that is important and people have actually known for a long time that diet impacts blood sugar. What in addition I am trying to get at is the long-term impact of LC on a wide variety of factors. Say for example our lipids after 10 years. Atkins already knew of the importance of such things as the "bad" form of LDL. This is something that the NMR Lipid Profile test can show. He argues that if you go LC you help this LDL profile improve. But as far as I know he didn't say much if anything about this 10 years into low carbing.
Or what interests me, the diabetic neuropathies. As far as I know he doesn't say anything about the LC impact on that. I do remember him urging us to try Alpha Lipoic Acid. But what did he observe 10 or so years later on the neuropathies, if anything. Did he notice his diabetic patients getting better or worse or did they stay the same (in regard to neuropathies) compared to other ways of treating diabetes?
You know he and others with him observed such things over the 30 or so years of their important work. I just wish he had filled us in with this. I explained above in a post to Karen some of the reasons I think this is missing from Atkins' account.
As I mentioned to Karen the drug companies don't have to worry about losing diabetic customers to low carbing. Most diabetics want their cake and eat it too. That is the sad simple truth. The magic pill, they think, is on the way that will allow them to do that and not die so early.
Can you imagine those patients your dad mentioned contolling their blood sugar with low carbs and low fats! What a life! I know a few vegans who have gotten themselves into that difficult situation having finally recognized that carbs contribute to fat! How hilarious if not so tragic! Brad