Webchat with Dr Michael Mosley about preventing and reversing Type 2 Diabetes, Tuesday 26 January, midday to 1pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Dr Michael Mosley is returning to Mumsnet on Tuesday (26 January) between midday and 1pm. This time he will be on hand to answer questions about his latest book The 8 week blood sugar diet which reveals a game-changing approach to one of the greatest silent epidemics of our time - raised blood sugar levels.

Mosley’s book explains that because of the high sugar/carb diet we eat today, more than a third of adults in the UK now have raised blood sugar levels and most don’t know it. This is not only making us fat, but also putting us at risk of type 2 diabetes, strokes, dementia and cancer. His book shows how to shed the dangerous abdominal fat fast, reprogramme the body and prevent and actually reverse type 2 diabetes. The book has been described as “a potentially a life-changing book for people with raised blood sugar levels as well as those with type 2 diabetes" by Dr Tim Spector, Professor of Genetics at King's College, London. A former diabetic, Carlos says: "The diet cleaned out my liver and pancreas. It's not so easy for me to gain weight any more. It's as though my body is working metabolically like a young man's again, and I like the person I see in the mirror now."

Interested? Come and chat to Dr Mosley at midday on Tuesday and if you’re unable to join the live webchat, post a question in advance to this thread.

I wonder how the vast majority of patients with T2 diabetes would cope with this dietary advice. From my experience in diabetes clinics, compliance with low sugar diets & reducing processed foods etc is very low. Very few patients have Mediterranean-type diets. A fair proportion won't eat oily fish, legumes etc.

I think for those who are motivated, interested & have cooking skills, it is a good option. But I would certainly wonder about compliance, as I do with current guidelines.

My question would be: how do you think the average patient will comply with this advice?

I'm borderline T2. Used to do 5:2 and felt better but lost no weight.

Am interested in hearing what Mr Mosely has to say. Might give this a go.

Obs afaik, There are no proper scientific studies on fasting or low carb for T1 - no institute so far has funded it.
Maybe Diabetes Uk will fund extending this 8-week diet to T1, since they were sufficiently radical to fund it for T2.

Without loads of research - not just small studies - it's understandable doctors would be too nervous to change official policy and recommend it officially, even if some privately think it might work.

I think some on the 5:2 threads have T2 and pre-T2, but I've no way of checking their data.

GP's may be but nurses who advise on diabetes are following NHS guidelines as few posters stared!

Yes, it is rather difficult to go against everything people have been told elsewhere. IME drs have a (little) more autonomy to give advice that differs from the party line; nurses and dieticians etc are far less likely to (and are less supported by their superiors if they do).

One of the things that convinced me about the validity of a HPLC with or without intermittent fasting (16:8 is working really really well for me and I cannot see myself having breakfast as a matter of routine again) was the following:

Everybody agrees that the current approach to curb obesity is not working.
So, either:
a. the advice is duff , or
b. it is too difficult to actually follow - feeling hungry, feeling deprived, sugar cravings.
Either way it is NOT working, so something has to change.

My late grandfather had T2 and he was taught how to count carbs. They were known as 'bread units' i.e. how much pasta/rice etc was the equivalent of a slice of bread and he had a limit of how many bread units he was allowed per day. I don't think that this kind of approach would be 'going back to the dark ages', but could actually help clarify what are 'allowed' foods to new diabetics.

Wrt how likely people are to follow dietary advice, well, they are more likely if they are full, can eat when they are hungry until they are satisfied and when choices are vast, rather than restrictive.

Having said all that, with respect, Dr Mosley, I am not sure that the world needs yet another diet book with an 8 week plan. It needs a paradigm shift like the one that told the world that cholesterol was the devil's

It takes a lot of courage to stand up as a medic and state that the current accepted advice is bunkum. Looking at history of attempts by Atkins, Bernstein etc, they were all shouted down and rubbished by the establishment and pressure groups and media. And yet, years later, they may have been right?
Worth noting that Bernstein was T1, and guinea pigged a low carb lifestyle, I think he was originally an engineer, went on to study medicine to try to make the establishment listen to his methods.

Agree with everything the previous few posters have said.

Sorry Moseley, but I too don't think yet another diet book is what is required.
Obesity is a problem, but no one had any answers, so we trudge on with the same old policies....
It takes a brave person to contradict the fashion and where are all the dietitians and diabetes clinic workers going again the grain?

And where is the research money for investigating it for t1's?

And does the common man comply?
I have the Bernstein book and read it many years ago. I think most people would struggle to follow his, because it's so restrictive.

Oh sod this, life is friggin miserable when you're only eating kale and flax seed - pass the chocolate

Obs - we don't have to 'trudge on with the same policies'

There is a lot of scientific evidence to support a low carb lifestyle (generally, as well as for T2 diabetics - don't know about T1), and increasingly evidence to support the idea that we should be eating fewer calories.

The advice we were all given to switch to low fat eating back in the 70s/80s was wrong, and it's great that things are finally changing.

Obviously when you look at someone on the outside it can be deceptive to the state of their insides (ie amount of fat around the pancreas / liver etc). What ways are there to establish this that aren't as expensive for the NHS as MRI's?

Also, I strongly believe their should be a far greater amount of health promotion education not just in schools, but also targeted at adults through a variety of mediums. I love you're program's and books and think they they're very informative, but can't help thinking that if your message could reach a wider audience through creative means (adverts at cinema / half time at football matches / having people who have been affected by diabetes visually talking to groups / schools), individuals may taking greater responsibility and have the knowledge to do so.

But BIWI, I don't think it is. Much.
Did you see my recent post where 2 recently diagnosed diabetic children were given the old speel?
Go onto diabetes uk and see how many low carb'ers and fast'ers and basically pooh-poohed by their GP and even at their diabetic clinic appointments!!
Us here on mumsnet are hardly mosley's target audience, are we? If you're already on one of the 100's of fab 5:2 threads,then your already aware.

Yes, I agree that diabetics are still being given the 'wrong' advice!

But I disagree with you that we're not the target audience. Yes, if you venture into the weight loss boards (5:2 and Bootcamp, as well as the other low carb boards) there are many of us who are already espousing this - but the vast majority of people on MN will still spout nonsense about losing weight - telling people to 'just' eat more and move less, or that they should be eating low fat, or that carbs are what we should be basing our diets on.

The difficulty with being a HCP, is having to follow evidence-based guidelines & running the risk of disciplinary action, either by your immediate manager or HCPC (And possibly being struck off) if you don't.

If I decided I was going to start recommending the Blood Group, Atkins etc - where's the clinical evidence for their use?? I'm not prepared to risk my registration for that. There doesn't seem to be an understanding from the public about that. We don't make up the policies but have implement best practice according to these. And take the consequences if we don't unlike the bankers.

I think we are encouraging lower carb diets. But not necessarily low carb, if that makes sense.

I would like to see a review of the current healthy eating advice at a national/policy level ie NICE guidelines.

In terms of type 1, no amount of losing weight/dietary changes will reverse the destruction of the insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas, so I'm not sure this approach would be helpful. But I can see how lower amounts of carbohydrate can be helpful, along with a dose-adjustment approach, as long as ketones are avoided.

I think the justification for "yet another diet" is that it is specifically targetted at those attempting to reverse or improve T2 & pre-T2.

Almost all other diets are for weight loss alone, i.e. for many people who don't have either condition and are often motivated by wishing to improve their appearance rather than health.
However, some of us who fast and / or lc longterm are doing so for other health benefits, not just weight control. Hence our interest here.

From Prof Taylor's study and the posts online from those who have succeeded in reversing their condition, this 8-week diet has had a high success rate and the reversal has remained so far - for that very motivated group of people

The problem with trying to change policy is that anecdotal evidence, even epidemiological studies, can be misleading - the low fat dogma came originally from such studies !
Controlled randomised trials organised by labs are far more reliable, but v expensive and small scale. Even those volunteers are probably not typical of the general public

We need the results of the ongoing large scale trial, also large scale trials of lc.
However, changing the failed low fat policy will probably be a long process - also because of the huge embarassment of the medical establishment that such a U-turn would cause !

Yes, and it's not just the medical/scientific community, it's also political, and reflects the media's obsession with it as well. Gary Taubes' book 'The Diet Delusion' is a very sobering read on this - you realise how much of the healthy eating advice we get is based on bad science as well as a political drive, supported by media reporting.

I have PCOS, which is down to the over production of insulin.
I managed to get my periods regulated and to lose two stone over a period of some months by eating a diet based on low gi principles.
I am still doing that and it has been nearly two years since I started. I am not as strict as I was in the beginning but my weight has remained constant.
The thing that bugs me is despite doing this and seeing an improvement in my condition (regular periods and no low blood sugar crashes) I am still suffering from acne and mild hirtuism.
How likely would this plan be effective in regards to these symptoms?

I think along the same lines as bigchofrenzy, this is an eating regime to reverse T2 diabetes or pre and it has been shown to work.

This is a book written by a doctor and following work by a professor.

Rather than a diet book written by a non medic without any training.

I have a question for Dr Mosley

Is this 'diet' (I use the term loosely!) compatible with the FODMAP diet?

I spent a year or so on the FODMAP (inc 2 months elimination) and I'm really not good with digesting pulses... I suffer from IBS.

Hi Dr Moseley, thank you for joining us on here and answering our questions.
I bought your book at the end of last week and am currently reading it. I have hypothyroidism and have struggled with my weight and struggled with losing weight since diagnosis which was 17 years ago.
I read with interest about your new book and wondered if you think the science behind will help me achieve my weight loss goals?
I am starting it tomorrow very positively, upping my water intake to 2-3 litres per day as suggested and am doing the suggested exercises 3 times a week and increasing the repetitions as the weeks progress. I am looking forward to feeling healthier and having increased energy.
Keep up the good work and thank you

My question is - are you actually a Doctor? And if yes are you a qualified medical doctor or do you have a PHD?
Sorry to be snippy but I thought Michael Mosely was a journalist not a doctor.

A quick Google would have helped you out with that one hazelnutlatte.

And why the need to be snippy? Even worse that you're admitting it!

I've read the book and I found it really interesting. I don't have diabetes but I am slightly overweight with lots of abdominal fat so I'm going to follow some of the advice - the maintenance diet and fasting and also being more active. My question is are any of the recipes available online? I bought the Kindle version of the book and unfortunately it's not that easy to find the recipe you want.

BIWI a quick google was inconclusive - according to Wikipedia he trained as a doctor but never practiced. I'm a nurse but if I don't practice for 3 years I lose my registration and the right to call myself a registered nurse. I don't know if it's the same for doctors? If he is not registered with the GMC then I would say it's misleading to call himself a doctor.
If he is in fact a doctor then I am being snippy and I apologise!

Thank you for doing this web chat Dr Mosley.

Can I ask how easy and effective the diet is to follow if you are at risk of Type 2 due to medication?

I have been on high dose cortico-steroids for a neurological condition for the past 3 years, on and off. I'm hoping to find a steroid sparing drug which works soon.
Before being on steroids I followed the 5:2 diet with some success. After going on steroids, I struggled to follow it and it did not give me the same weight loss results.

Steroids carry a risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and during the time that I have taken them I've gained over 5 stone, and some blood tests have shown raised sugar levels. I'm very worried about damaging my health, and would like to follow your method if you think it could be effective for someone in my position (I will check with my HCP first of course but would appreciate your view!)