Another report on diabetes and obesity hit the press. You can read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald. The study was completed by the George Institute for International Health based in Australia. It looked at over 11,000 people in multiple countries over five years. The breadth of the study was fantastic, and it focused on reducing the A1C results for diabetics. 

A1C is a blood test that shows the average glucose reading over a period of time. It's a better baramoter of glucose readings that daily home tests since it relies on old blood cells. The study, called ADVANCE, was designed to get the tarrget A1Cs to 6.5. You are diabetic if your A1C is higher than 6. Diabetics with A1Cs above 6 can suffer long term kidney damage due to the high glucose.  

The study found that keeping diabetics A1C at 6.5 or lower did the following things:

1. Diabetes complications reduced by 10%
2. Kidney disease reduced 21%
3. Protein in the urine decreased 30%

Amazing results and I was very happy to see them refer to weight loss as a major contibuting factor to this. My happiness was dashed when I read this from Dr. Vlado Perkovic :

He said lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise, as well as drugs and injections, could be used to aggressively lower levels. 

The very simple way to reduce glucose levels and ensure an A1C under 6 for most type 2 diabetics is to eat a low carb diet. The primary source your body uses for glucose is carbohydrates in food. Your body can make glucose from fat, but it normally looks for carbs in your diet. Remove the carbs and you remove the chief source of glucose in your diet. Humans absolutely do not need carbohydrates in the diet.

It's amazing that in this day and age the medical establishment doesn't use a low carb diet instead of drugs as the first step in type 2 diabetes treatment. Then again, maybe it's not.  

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