November 22, 2018 – Diabetes and Fasting

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Anchor lead: Is fasting a good strategy for people with type 2 diabetes? Elizabeth Tracey reports

It’s a good bet that people with diabetes would rather not take insulin, and now a new report may give them hope. In this very small study of three patients with longstanding type 2 diabetes, a regimen of intermittent fasting resulted in both weight loss and the ability to stop insulin. Rita Kalyani, a diabetes expert at Johns Hopkins, says such a strategy must be approached carefully.

Kalyani: We recommend that patients with diabetes really follow an individualized multinutritional plan. When people are on medications for type 2 diabetes we really rely on them having a relatively unchanged diet from day to day, and when there is fasting intermixed with that usually that’s  when in patients who are already taking diabetes medication it puts them at risk for hypoglycemia and other side effects. It really has to be a discussion between the patient and physician whether this something they would like to try, and then a discussion about how the medication regimen might need to be modified.  :32

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.