Fork Over Knives Diet for Diabetes Cure

Understand the physiology of diabetes development. Learn how food can be one of the simplest causes and the most powerful tool for prevention and reversal.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood and is classified as either Type 1 or Type 2. Insulin resistance can develop during pregnancy and is referred to as gestational diabetes.

High levels of circulating glucose damage our blood vessels, putting diabetics at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney and liver disease, nerve damage, and blindness. Women with gestational diabetes are at risk of complications in pregnancy and delivery; mother and child are also at higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the future.

The dominant energy source for our muscles and brain is glucose – but it needs to be regulated. Carbohydrates that we eat are broken down into glucose in the digestive tract. Glucose is then taken through the blood and used by our muscles as energy. In healthy people, the pancreas produces the hormone insulin that unlocks the gate for glucose to enter our muscle cells.

In Type 1 diabetes (T1D), the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas are destroyed by the immune system and cannot make enough or any insulin. Type 1 diabetics make up approximately 5-10% of all diabetes cases. It is usually diagnosed in childhood or adolescence and, unfortunately, cannot be cured.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more common, comprising about 90% of all cases. Their pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body is resistant to insulin's action resulting in high blood sugar levels.

How does diet play a role in the onset of diabetes?

Type 1

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder of the pancreas that may have dietary triggers. Consumption of cow's milk, sugar and bread, soft drinks, eggs, and meat are noted risk factors for T1D development(1). Introduction of dairy in infancy may cause the immune system to attack proteins in milk that resemble pancreatic components and lead to T1D (2; 3; 4). Pathogens (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis; MAP) in contaminated dairy and meat that survive pasteurization and cooking, toxins created during the meat cooking process, and saturated fat intake have been indicated as possible mechanisms of T1D initiation (5; 6). Similarly, lactating mothers who consume dairy and meat can pass the pathogens and toxins through the breastmilk (7; 8). Studies have shown a strong dose-dependent relationship between T1D development and how much meat is consumed by a child in the first two-years of life (9).

Type 2

Insulin resistance of the muscles and liver combined with a deteriorating pancreas and rising blood sugar levels is what we refer to as Type 2 diabetes. Fat in our bloodstream, induced by obesity or a diet high in saturated fat (or both), initiates fat buildup in the muscle that inhibits glucose uptake (causes insulin resistance in the muscle). Because glucose cannot get into the cells, blood sugar levels remain high and the pancreas works harder to secrete compensatory insulin.

Normally our liver regulates blood glucose between meals and stops releasing it as blood sugar rises after a meal. In the case of T2D, fat also builds up in the liver that blocks the signals from rising blood sugar and causes it to continue releasing glucose – worsening blood sugar levels. Our body tries to shed accumulated fat from the liver, but this triggers accumulation of fat in the pancreas that both blocks blood sugar signals and is toxic to insulin-producing pancreatic cells.

Internally, people eating a plant-based diet have better blood sugar levels (10), better insulin production (10), better insulin sensitivity (low insulin resistance) (11; 12), lower quantities of fat in the muscles (13), and improved expression of fat-burning genes (14) than their omnivorous counterparts.

Gestational diabetes

Dietary factors that increase insulin resistance also apply during pregnancy. Obesity is a major risk factor for developing gestational diabetes (15). Consumption of meat, eggs, heme-iron, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol (which only come from animal products) before and during pregnancy also increases the likelihood of developing gestational diabetes (16-19).

How can a whole food, plant-based diet prevent, treat, and reverse diabetes?

Prevention

It is well documented that populations with diets high in saturated fat and low in whole-food carbohydrates have higher rates of Type 1, Type 2, and gestational diabetes (20-24). The opposite is also true: low (or zero) rates of diabetes are found in populations who eat diets high in whole-food carbohydrates with minimal added animal products (25; 26, p 116-119). Prioritizing maternal health and adopting a plant-based diet prior to and during pregnancy (27) is beneficial for both the mother and her future children. We've all heard the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and a WFPB diet is a proven factor in the prevention of chronic diseases.

Treatment & Reversal

The balance between natural insulin, supplemental insulin, medications, and blood sugar is delicate and will shift with dietary intervention, potentially resulting in life-threatening over-medication as the body works to heal itself. Dietary treatment of diabetes acts quickly and should only be undertaken in accordance with a health care provider familiar with your case.

Blood sugar levels can be regulated with diet. Diabetics may want to manage their blood sugar levels using the food Glycemic Index (GI). High GI foods, such as white bread, will digest rapidly causing a spike in blood glucose. Low GI foods, such as legumes, whole grains, most fruits, and non-starchy vegetables have a slower rate of digestion and a distributed rise in glucose. People using the GI may be tempted to eat zero-carbohydrate foods like meat and eggs, but high-fat, animal-based diets are proven to increase insulin resistance andlead to as much fat in the bloodstream as those who are obese (26, p. 106).

While T1D cannot be reversed, patients can improve their blood sugar control and reduce their requirement for insulin with a whole food, plant-based diet (28).

Studies since the 1930's have shown that Type 2 diabetics can reduce or even eliminate their need for supplemental insulin, improve blood sugar levels, and improve or restore pancreatic function within weeks of starting a whole food, plant-based diet (29-35). These trials included patients who had been on insulin for 20 years that were able to reduce insulin requirements within days of starting aWFPB diet and eventuallyeliminate the need for insulin and other medications altogether. A WFPB diet is also proven to treat diabetes better than the guidelines provided by the American Diabetic Association (36).

Not only can aWFPB diet reverse diabetes, it can also relieve orreverse diabetic neuropathy (nerve damage) within days andrestore diabetic vision loss (26; 37; 38). Treatment of diabetes using a whole food, plant-based diet may come with additional positive side effects that include:

• relief from nerve pain,
• reduced or eliminated need for insulin and medications,
• better blood sugar control,
• weight normalization,
• improved triglyceride and cholesterol levels,
• eliminated need for blood pressure medication,
• reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, and
• reversal of diabetic blindness.

These are side effects we can truly live with.

Related Resources

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Evidence

Evidence

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Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

DIABETES

1. Virtanen, SM. et al, Food consumption and advanced β cell autoimmunity in young children withHLA-conferred susceptibility to type 1 diabetes: a nested case-control design, Am J Clin Nutr 2012. Feb. 95 (2):471–478  https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.111.018879
2. Autoimmune Diseases: Genes, Infection, Environment & Gut. Thomas Campbell. March 24, 2016. Retrieved from: https://nutritionstudies.org/autoimmune-disease-genes-infection-environment-gut/
3. Gerstein HC. Cow's milk exposure and type I diabetes mellitus. A critical overview of the clinical literature. Diabetes Care. 1994 Jan;17(1):13-9.
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6. Sechi LA, et al.,Mycobacterium avium Subspeciesparatuberculosis Bacteremia in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: An Infectious Trigger?,Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 46, Issue 1, 1 January 2008, Pages 148–149, https://doi.org/10.1086/524084
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21. Xu Y, et al. Prevalence and Control of Diabetes in Chinese Adults.JAMA. 2013;310(9):948–959. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.168118
22. Pan XR, et al. Prevalence of diabetes and its risk factors in China, 1994. Diabetes Care 1997;20:1664-9. doi: 10.2337/diacare.20.11.1664
23. Zhai F, et al. Dynamics of the Chinese Diet and the Role of Urbanicity, 1991–2011.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. 2014;15(0 1) doi:10.1111/obr.12124.
24. Gu, D. et al. Prevalence of diabetes and impaired fasting glucose in the Chinese adult population: International Collaborative Study of Cardiovascular Disease in Asia (InterASIA) Diabetologia (2003) 46: 1190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-003-1167-8
25. Chiu THT, Huang HY, Chiu YF, Pan WH, Kao HY, et al. (2014) Taiwanese Vegetarians and Omnivores: Dietary Composition, Prevalence of Diabetes and IFG. PLOS ONE 9(2): e88547. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088547
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Fork Over Knives Diet for Diabetes Cure

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