A University of
Otago academic shared some food for thought about diabetes
this week. On top of medical treatment, a healthy diet for
type 2 diabetics can make "a big difference".
Dr Kirsten Coppell, senior research fellow at the
university's Edgar National Centre for Diabetes, was
addressing a national diabetes conference in Dunedin, sharing
the findings from the Lifestyle Over and Above Drugs in
Diabetes study.
About 250 New Zealand health professionals were at the New
Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes conference, at the
St David Lecture Theatre.
The study, which started two years ago, divided 87 high-risk
diabetics from the Dunedin area into two groups - an
intervention group and a control group - and monitored them
for six months, lead investigator Dr Coppell said.
Both received optimised medical care, but patients in the
intervention group also received one-on-one dietary advice
from a dietitian.
At the end of the study, measures of glycaemic control in the
intervention group had improved, which was "a crucial goal in
managing diabetes".
"It can prevent long-term complications, such as kidney
failure, heart disease, amputations and blindness," she said.
The intervention group was encouraged to eat smaller meals,
and more fruit and vegetables.
Their average weight loss was 2kg, and 3cm around their
waists.
Dr Coppell told the Otago Daily Times that before the
introduction of anti-diabetic drugs, the focus in diabetics
care was on diet and lifestyle.
"Our research indicates that while this earlier approach has
tended to be forgotten in this modern age of a `pill for
every ill', it still very much has a place in diabetics
management."
A participant in the study, and member of the intervention
group, Pat Tillard, said since she started to eat less more
often, her health had improved.
"Before I started, I was having six insulin injections a day,
and now I may have one a day."
Mrs Tillard had also "just tightened [her] belt again".
She had gone from a size 36 to a size 18 or 20, and had much
more energy.
"If it wasn't for the study I'd still be on a lot of insulin
and I'd still be the size I was."
- Cerisse Denhardt
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