Solving Diabetes: The Sweet Spot of Plant-Based Nutrition

What’s the best diet for preventing and reversing type 2 diabetes?

Dr Scott Stoll left the audience of over 400 doctors, nurses, dietitians, nutritionists, naturopaths, health coaches, personal trainers and lay people from 15 countries attending the conference in no doubt about the answer to this question: It’s a wholefood, plant-based diet!

Dr Stoll is a former Olympic athlete (member of the 1994 Olympic Bobsled team), now Department Chairman of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Coordinated Health, and an all-round nice guy :).

In his presentation, he laid out the frightening facts about type 2 diabetes:

• 21.0 million Americans have already been diagnosed with it, which constitutes 9.3% of the US population;
• Additionally 8.1 million Americans are estimated to already have type 2 diabetes but remain undiagnosed;
• 86 million are prediabetic i.e. at risk of developing diabetes due to higher-than-normal blood glucose levels;
• One third of White children and one half of Hispanic and Black children are predicted to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime;
• Diabetics have a 50% higher all cause mortality, i.e. their risk of dying from any cause is half as much again as a non-diabetic; and
• Diabetics have double the medical costs of non-diabetics.

The numbers are somewhat lower in Australia – see the latest stats here – but diabetes is still a major public health problem, especially in our Indigenous population.

While it’s undeniable that there are genetic factors involved in diabetes, the dramatic increase in its prevalence over the last few decades clearly indicates that lifestyle factors are predominant – genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger.

So which diet and lifestyle factors are associated with an increased risk of diabetes?

• Meat (40% higher prevalence of diabetes in women who eat meat vs vegans, and 80% higher prevalence in men, with risk rising with increased frequency of consumption)
• Processed meat (91% increased risk in women consuming bacon, hot dogs, sausage, salami, bologna etc 5 or more times per week)
• Animal protein (every 5% increase in calories from animal protein resulted in a 30% increased risk of diabetes)
• Eggs (consumption of 5 or more per week associated with significantly increased risk; risk rises with consumption level)
• Saturated fat
• Haem iron (from red meat – impairs insulin sensitivity)
• Nitrates (used in processed meats to preserve colour)
• Your mothers intake of methyl donors (nutrients like folate and vitamin B12) while she was pregnant with you
• Gestational diabetes in your mother while she was pregnant with you (associated with obesity)
• High inflammation levels (caused by high intake of animal products, refined carbohydrate and omega 6-rich vegetable oils) which contribute to oxidative stress.

Conversely, a wholefood plant-based diet (adequately supplemented with vitamin B12) is rich in methyl donors, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant phytochemicals; contains only non-haem iron; is low in saturated fats (assuming coconut products are limited); and contains only plant protein which does not increase diabetes risk.

Not only does a wholefood plant-based diet help to prevent type 2 diabetes, it can also be used to treat it.

Dr Stoll summarised the findings of several research teams, including Dr Neal Barnard, who compared the effectiveness of a low-fat wholefood plant-based diet to the American Diabetes Association diet. His team found that those eating the plant-based diet:

• Dropped their HbA1c (a marker of blood sugar control) by over 3 times as much as those on the ADA diet;
• Reduced their LDL cholesterol by more than twice as much;
• Lost over twice as much weight; and
• Reduced their medication usage by 43% compared to only 26% in the ADA group.

In summary, Dr Stoll pointed out that a wholefood plant-based diet addresses every aspect of type 2 diabetes simultaneously and cost-effectively… unlike medications which are prescribed to address one pathology, such as blood glucose level, but usually aggravate another, such as insulin sensitivity, resulting in upwardly-spiralling costs and downwardly-spiralling quality of life!

You can view my summary of Dr Stoll’s presentation in the International PBNHC Round-Up Webinar.

My own experience in working with type 2 diabetics confirms everything Dr Stoll said. I’ve had the great privilege of assisting numerous type 2 diabetics to lose weight, lower their blood glucose, HbA1c and blood pressure levels into the normal range, get off their medications and regain their quality of life.

If you’d like to know more about my program for reversing type 2 diabetes, fill in the form here.