More on Graham’s post last night.

So often in life it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. The nearer a diabetic can get to non diabetic blood glucose numbers the better the outcome in avoiding serious diabetic complications. This has been proved many times. It is of paramount importance how you achieve those numbers. Using a high carb diet and ramming BG numbers down with drugs is a disaster, as proved in the ACCORD study. So many type two diabetics died, the study ended early. Unfortunately the lowcarb naysayers forget to point out the reason this comment is made so many times.

From Grahams post.

“However, Dr. Lachin did divulge that there is no increased mortality among the intensive-treatment group, a phenomenon that has been seen in some trials involving patients with type 2 diabetes.”

So, a casual look at that statement may make some type two diabetics feel intensive BG control would not help CV outcomes, indeed some have suggested intensive BG control could make matters worse. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I checked out the ACCORD study when it came out, it stated the participants had suffered from long term obesity, they had run very high BG numbers for years and here is the knock-out punch, they were using insulin and up to four type two diabetes medications including Actos and Avandia. Two drugs banned in many countries for killing people ! I remember writing at the time the poor participants had one foot in the grave at the start of the trial.

I know I do not have to tell readers of this blog how to reduce BG and weight safely. And no-one will ever convince me drugs should be the first line of defence for an over-weight person or a type two diabetic.

Eddie

BTW Check out another view of another waste of  money and an exercise in futility the Look AHEAD study here.