• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Diabetes question

Kuko 4000

Graduate Poster
Kuko 4000
Joined
Mar 2, 2008
Messages
1,586
An acquintance of mine, who is a doctor, claims publically (well, on Facebook) that the American Diabetes Association recommeds a diet which does more harm than good. He describes the situation as absurd, since there is a lot of evidence showing their recommendations to be harmful. I know next to nothing about diets for diabetics, so decided to get a second opinion from the knowledgeable people over here.

I think this is the official site:

http://www.diabetes.org/

http://www.diabetes.org/food-nutrition-lifestyle/nutrition.jsp

http://www.diabetes.org/food-nutrition-lifestyle/nutrition/what-can-i-eat.jsp

Is he talking over his head or does his claim make sense?
 
Last edited:
Has he said why it is harmful and what studies is available to support his claim? Without more information, it is difficult to figure out what exactly his claim is.
 
I asked for further references but received a reply that pretty much only repeated his claim. He did give a strong recommendation for the Zone Diet, and said that he is going to write an article for the layperson about that in the near future.

As far as I understood his original point was that the American Diabetes Association recommends a person with diabetes to eat LOTS of potatoes, pasta, rice and crop, which he says is a bad thing because food like that raises the blood sugar up and then down quickly. He also added something about low protein intake.

On a quick glance, his points do seem to look similar to the blog that Yaffle linked to. Yaffle, could you provide links to where Briffa's claims have been disputed?
 
It's to do with glycemic index and insulin resistance. The theory is that rapid increases and decreases in blood sugar contribute to insulin resistance, which is a key cause of type 2 diabetes.

The links you provided at diabetes.org promote eating low to medium GI foods, which are NOT potatoes, pasta, (and generally) rice and crop, which are high GI.

So it may be his mistake isn't in his belief about diabetes causes, but about what the American Diabetes Association apparently promotes.
 
The other thing to keep in mind is that "lots" is not defined in context here. As far as I've seen, reputable sites, dieticians, and physicians all recommended moderation in portions, and balance among the food groups.

Few diabetics are willing to give up all starches, nor, I believe, is an extreme diet of any kind beneficial over the long haul. So if there are going to be starches in the meal, then things that break down into glucose slowly are better than things that break down into glucose quickly. This doesn't translate into "eat as much as you can."

I'm Type II myself. It's better for me to have a huge bowl of natural rice than a huge bowl of mashed potatoes. But better still is a small portion of either, along with fruits and proteins as part of a balanced meal. I firmly believe that most of our modern problems with diabetes come more from the vast quantities we eat rather than the type of each thing. Um, that plus the sedentary lifestyle. If we had to chase down a deer on foot daily, we could probably eat anything we wanted.
 
Kuko 4000 said:
I asked for further references but received a reply that pretty much only repeated his claim. He did give a strong recommendation for the Zone Diet, and said that he is going to write an article for the layperson about that in the near future.

As far as I understood his original point was that the American Diabetes Association recommends a person with diabetes to eat LOTS of potatoes, pasta, rice and crop, which he says is a bad thing because food like that raises the blood sugar up and then down quickly. He also added something about low protein intake.

On a quick glance, his points do seem to look similar to the blog that Yaffle linked to. Yaffle, could you provide links to where Briffa's claims have been disputed?
Click to expand...

Mostly in the comments sections of his blog (look out for Catherine Collins who is a dietitian). I think in this instance thecriticism is not necessarily that he is definitely wrong about low carb diets, but that he is wrong in his accusation against the diabetes charities (that they deliberately give bad advice because they are funded by big farmer) - it may be that low carb diets are a good idea for some diabetes patients, but the research just hasn't yet been done to confirm or refute this. So they rely on personal anecdtes and their "common sense" beliefs.

I think Holfordwatch have taken him on occasionally - but not necessarily on this subject (he has also strayed into the MMR/autism nonsense and dodgy allergy tests):
http://holfordwatch.info/2008/06/08...ty-applied-kinesiology-dowsing-and-igg-tests/

ETA: And Dr Crippen of NHS Blog Doctor has written about him:
http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/search/label/Dr%20John%20Briffa
 
Last edited:
From my own personal experience: Zone is good. Low carbs is better.
 
Professor Yaffle said:
Mostly in the comments sections of his blog (look out for Catherine Collins who is a dietitian).
Click to expand...


Yeah, I read almost all of it, it seems to me that Briffa is avoiding important questions from a couple of posters, what a shame. It would have been so easy just to offer the evidence behind his claims, instead he goes on and on that he has already posted the evidence somewhere else on his blog. I guess I have to go through the whole blog if I want to get a balanced overall picture..

ETA: Yesterday I sent another e-mail to my friend and asked for further details.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom