{"id":2800,"date":"2018-04-03T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T11:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/?p=2800"},"modified":"2018-04-01T11:06:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T15:06:56","slug":"can-a-holistic-approach-to-diabetes-reduce-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/can-a-holistic-approach-to-diabetes-reduce-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Holistic Approach to Diabetes Reduce Risk?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Role of Supplementation In Reducing Diabetes Risk<\/p>\n

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney<\/p>\n

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\"holistic<\/a>Doctors usually discuss a holistic approach to diabetes with their patients.\u00a0 But, that often isn\u2019t the case for other diseases. Why do doctors recommend drugs rather than natural approaches for controlling and treating other diseases? In part, it\u2019s because so many Americans would rather take a pill than change their diet or lifestyle. Many of our doctors have become so conditioned to that expectation from their patients they don\u2019t even suggest diet and lifestyle changes.<\/p>\n

That is our fault. We need to take responsibility for our health. Rather than just accepting whatever treatment our doctors suggest, we should partner with our doctors in designing the best treatment plan for us.<\/p>\n

The other reason doctors often recommend drugs is that they are trained to base their decisions on evidence-based medicine. The Gold Standard for evidence-based medicine is, of course, a double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial. In those studies, a single component is compared to the placebo. That is easy to do when you are comparing a drug to a placebo. The drug either works better than the placebo, or it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

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Do Natural Remedies for Diabetes Work?<\/h2>\n

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Of course, many of you are more interested in knowing whether holistic, natural approaches also work. That is a much more difficult question to answer.<\/p>\n

Double blind, placebo controlled clinical studies are much more difficult to perform when you are looking at foods or nutrients. That\u2019s because foods and nutrients are seldom effective by themselves. They interact with each other. It is the whole, rather than the individual components, that reduce the risk of diabetes and other diseases. Even worse, when you want to test the effectiveness of a holistic change in diet and lifestyle, how do you design a placebo?<\/p>\n

\"holistic<\/a>It reminds me of an international cancer symposium I attended over 30 years ago as a young Assistant Professor. A world-renowned cancer expert gave a talk from main stage and concluded by saying \u201cI can show you, unequivocally, that colon cancer risk is significantly decreased by a lifestyle that includes a high-fiber diet, a low-fat diet, adequate calcium, adequate B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, exercise, and weight control. But, I can\u2019t show you that any one of them, by themselves, is effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question that came to me as I heard him speak was: \u201cWhat\u2019s the message that a responsible scientist or responsible health professional should be giving to their patients or the people that they are advising?\u201d You\u2019ve heard experts saying: \u201cDon\u2019t worry about the fat.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t worry about calcium.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t worry about B vitamins.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t worry about \ufb01ber.\u201d \u201cNone of them can be shown to decrease the risk of colon cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is that the message we should be giving people? Or should we really be saying what that doctor said many years ago \u2013 that a lifestyle that includes all those things signi\ufb01cantly decreases the risk of colon cancer?<\/p>\n

The problem is the negative studies you hear about, and your doctor hears about, are usually studies done with individual foods or individual nutrients. Those studies leave the impression that natural approaches don\u2019t work. However, when you look at a holistic approach to diabetes, the answers are often much different.<\/p>\n

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Can a Holistic Approach to Diabetes Reduce Risk?<\/h2>\n

\"holistic<\/a>I created the diagram on the left for my book \u201cSlaying the Food Myths<\/strong><\/a>\u201d to represent holistic approaches to health. Simply put, diet, weight control, exercise, and supplementation all play a role in improving our health. It is that sweet spot in the middle of the diagram where we receive the optimal benefit. Finally, both diet and supplementation should also be holistic. No one food or nutrient will be effective by itself.<\/p>\n

This is perfectly illustrated by a recent study (S.M. Kimball et al, Journal of Clinical & Translational Endocrinology, doi: 10.1016\/j.jcte.2017.11.002 eCollection Dec 2017<\/a> ). If you just read the headlines, you would conclude the study was just about the effect of supplementation on the risk of developing diabetes. However, when you read the publication, you realized the study involves a lot more than supplementation.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted by a non-profit wellness organization called Pure North S\u2019Energy Foundation located in Calgary, Canada. They enrolled 188 middle-aged adults (ages 25-54 years) in the studies. Based on BMI measurements the participants were overweight, but not obese. They were followed for a two-year period.<\/p>\n

Each of the participants met regularly with a health care professional who provided them with lifestyle advice. Specifically:<\/p>\n