A new series of case studies published today (10 October) highlight the potential effectiveness of therapeutic fasting to reverse insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.
Details of the three male patients appear in BMJ Case Reports. The authors explain that the patients were referred to the Intensive Dietary Management clinic in Toronto, Canada, for insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes.
In each case, therapeutic fasting helped reverse their insulin resistance, allowing them to maintain control of their blood sugar while coming off insulin therapy.
Furthermore, say Dr Suleiman Furmli of the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues, these patients – aged between 40 and 67 – also lost significant amounts of body weight, reduced their waist circumference and reduced their glycated haemoglobin level.
The men fasted either on alternate days or three days a week. On ‘fasting’ days they could have very low calorie drinks and one very low calorie evening. After about ten months their fasting blood glucose, average blood glucose (HbA1c), weight, and waist circumference were re-measured.
The researchers, led by Dr Jason Fung of Scarborough Hospital, Ontario, Canada, report that all three men could come off insulin within a month, and in one case, five days.
Although the sample size is small and all male, the researchers say: "The use of a therapeutic fasting regimen for treatment of [type 2 diabetes] is virtually unheard of. This present case series showed that 24-hour fasting regimens can significantly reverse or eliminate the need for diabetic medication."
Furmli S, et al. Therapeutic use of intermittent fasting for people with type 2 diabetes as an alternative to insulin. BMJ Case Reports 10 October 2018; doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-221854
http://casereports.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bcr-2017-221854
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