Intermittent diet can effectively control diabetes

Is it better to control diabetes by intermittent diet or continuous diet? Chen Yan research group of Shanghai Institute of nutrition and health, Chinese Academy of Sciences recently gave the answer: intermittent diet is an effective nutritional intervention for diabetes. Relevant research papers have been published in the international academic journal Nutrition and metabolism. Wei Siying, a doctoral student in Chen Yan's research group, systematically analyzed the intervention effect of various diet schemes on diabetes mellitus by using the mice model of type 1 diabetes induced by citric acid, trisodium citrate, streptozotocin (STZ) and the mice model of db / DB type 2 diabetes. The study used a "simulated diet diet" (FMD) to limit intermittent calories in mice. FMD is a kind of food with low protein and high fiber, which is rich in many plant components. Caloric restriction, commonly known as diet, is considered to be a nutritional intervention that can improve metabolism and prolong life. In recent years, the concept of intermittent diet has been proposed because of the difficulty of continuous diet in practical application. However, it is not clear which is better or worse between intermittent diet and continuous diet.

Researchers first compared the intervention effects of different intermittent diet on diabetes, namely, 2-5 and 5-9. 2-5 plan, i.e. using FMD for 2 days, then eating freely for 5 days; 5-9 plan, i.e. using FMD for 5 days, then eating freely for 9 days. During FMD, the daily total calorie intake was 1 / 3 of the normal intake. In the two diabetic mice models, the two diets can significantly reduce fasting blood glucose, but in the type 2 diabetic mice model, the 5-9 diet is better than the 2-5 diet, showing better fasting blood glucose reduction, better glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. In the study, researchers also tried to find the possible mechanism of intermittent diet intervention in diabetes. It was found that both diet methods could increase the number of islet β cells (insulin secreting cells in pancreas), while intermittent diet could significantly increase the number of islet β cells in type 2 diabetic mice. In addition, in the liver and skeletal muscle, intermittent diet can increase the sensitivity of these tissues to insulin. These results suggest that intermittent diet may interfere with the progression of diabetes by increasing the number of islet β cells and increasing the sensitivity of peripheral tissues to insulin. For a long time, people think that dieting can improve diabetes because of weight loss, but this study found that intermittent dieting does not control diabetes because of weight loss. For example, the intermittent diet did not reduce the weight of type 2 diabetic mice after 5-9 diet, while the continuous diet could reduce the weight, but the intermittent diet was better than the continuous diet in the intervention effect of diabetes. In addition, by comparing the intermittent diet of FMD with the intermittent diet of general diet, we found that both of them can reduce fasting blood glucose, but the improvement effect of FMD diet on insulin sensitivity is better than that of general diet, suggesting that the intermittent diet of FMD is an effective way to intervene diabetes. Experts believe that this study reveals that intermittent diet is an effective nutritional intervention for diabetes. Because 2-5 diet can also effectively control diabetes, and 2-day-a-week diet control is more acceptable in the population, this study lays a theoretical foundation for the future intervention experiment of diabetes population.