Question:
I am interested in food based approaches to managing blood sugar levels in both types of diabetes (I am a Type 2). The DCCT study seems to indicate that tight control is beneficial, but it was only applied to Type 1's.
Answer:
Although the DCCT studied only Type 1 patients, the
American Diabetes Association, and most diabetes experts, feel
that the results can be extrapolated to people with Type 2
diabetes. It's not the insulin therapy that did the trick in the
DCCT; it was the close followup and changing programs based on lowering the
home blood sugar levels that was responsible for the decline in
glycohemoglobin and complication results.
Whether your diabetes can be controlled with meal planning plus exercise
plus stress control, or whether it also needs medications and exogenous
(external) insulin to help, the concepts seem to be the same: do everything
necessary to get the blood sugar level down!
Original posting 4 Mar 96