Type 2 Diabetes and the Vegan Diet
A week ago, a study was released showing that Seventh-day Adventist vegans have a 68% lower rate of type 2 diabetes than non-vegetarian SDAs. The finding was highly significant, with a confidence interval of .25 to .41. This is one of the most statistically significant findings I’ve ever seen from a nutrition study.
Where were all the media stories reporting this?!
There is one bit of caution – this study was cross-sectional, not prospective. That means we don’t know if the finding was because vegans don’t contract diabetes as often, or if people with, or prone to, diabetes are less likely to go vegan.
In addition to this SDA study, results were recently released from a study using a vegan diet to treat type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that a low-fat vegan diet resulted in lower body weight, cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, and diabetes medications.
You can find more information in the article, Type 2 Diabetes and the Vegan Diet, that I just posted to VeganHealth.org.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Who did this recent study and where was it done? Can’t find it online. Thanks.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Heather,
Here are the two from 2009:
2009 PCRM study report
2009 Adventist Health Study-2 Report
December 4th, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Hi there I am 37 year old female from the UK who has suffered from depression since a child and suffer from Fibromyalgia and type 2 diabetes also bad breakouts and problem skin since I was 18. I want to become Vegan and so does my oldest who is 16 because of the treatment of animals more than my helth, a friend I met on Facebook recommend I came on hear for advice tips thankyou Michelle
December 4th, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Hi Michelle,
I’m glad you want to help prevent cruelty to animals. Luckily, a vegan diet tends to be very good for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Here is a link giving guidance on how to eat:
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2003issue2/vj2003issue2diabetes.htm
And if you want to read about the research that’s been done using vegan diets to treat type 2 diabetes, see here:
http://veganhealth.org/articles/diabetestwo
I don’t have much info to help you with fibromyalgia or depression since those conditions vary so much from individual to individual. I would make sure you have your vitamin D levels checked if you haven’t already as vitamin D deficiency can sometimes cause fibromyalgia-like symptoms.
Let me know if you need more information than that.
December 4th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Michelle,
I should have also pointed out that the book I wrote, Vegan For Life, has a section on managing diabetes with a sample menu. You should be able to get it through Amazon.com in the UK if you’d like a copy.
December 5th, 2013 at 6:16 am
Thanks Jack
my mum was told las week she was vitamin D deficient so it is interesting you should mention that. she hasn’t been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia but had similar symptoms recently. my fm started with a high temperature for two months and went from there that was in 2004
thankyou Michelle
December 5th, 2013 at 8:33 am
Michelle,
I’m not aware of low vitamin D commonly causing a high temperature, so I’m guessing that probably isn’t the problem in your case.