Can Raw Food Diet Help with Diabetes Remission?

Highlights:

Diabetes is a chronic condition and is one of the leading causes of death around the world
Raw food diet is eating uncooked and unprocessed plant-based foods
Diabetes in early stages can be prevented with healthy diet, exercise, and stress management

Raw food diet is yet another diet trend taking the world by storm for people looking to prevent progression of diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that occurs when blood glucose, also known as blood sugar, is too high. Blood glucose is the main source of energy and comes from the food one eats. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps glucose from food get into the cells to be used for energy. Sometimes the body doesn't make enough—or any—insulin or doesn't use insulin well. Glucose then stays in the blood and doesn't reach the cells ().

Once a person is diagnosed with diabetes it cannot be reversed but it can go into remission by certain lifestyle changes which includes daily dietary habits. There is no cure for diabetes, hence the word reversal is a misleading term and ideally should not be used.

Diabetic Diet - Diabetes Mellitus
The diabetic diet most often recommended is high in dietary fiber (especially soluble fiber) and nutrients, but low in fat (especially saturated fat) and moderate in calories.

‘Raw food diet is gaining popularity for remission of diabetes. To what extent is this true?’

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What is Diabetes Remission?

The consensus of UK Primary Care Diabetes Society and Association of British Clinical Diabetologists lays out three criteria for remission of type 2 diabetes:

Weight loss
Fasting plasma glucose <7 mmol/L or HbA1c <48 mmol/mol (WHO diagnostic thresholds) on two occasions separated by at least six months
Attainment of these glycaemic parameters after complete cessation of all glucose lowering therapies

Diabetes Diet Plan
Diet plays a significant role in controlling diabetes. Most cases of diabetes are preventable with healthy lifestyle changes.

How Raw Food Helps With Diabetes Remission?

Lifestyle changes in diabetes should include the practice of eating foods that are uncooked or unprocessed and mostly should be plant-based. The diet helps in decreasing the intake of fat and losing weight however it lacks all the required nutrients.

Raw food diet has been advocated since the time of Pythagoreans or even before as it can benefit both healthy individuals and those with chronic disease like diabetes (). Studies suggest that diabetes can be controlled by making certain lifestyle changes like eating habits losing weight and regular exercises.

For weight loss there needs to be a major calorie restriction. This leads to a rapid fall in liver fat, normalisation of liver insulin sensitivity and this leads to a better control of diabetes.

Goal of A Diabetes Diet Plan
The goal of a diabetes diet plan is to provide a mixture of carbohydrates, proteins and fats at each meal at an appropriate calorie level.

Uncooked versus Cooked Food Which is Healthy?

Raw vegan food is uncooked food without any animal products, dairy, or eggs and has gained popularity due to its many benefits.

Cooking will generally destroy nutrients and enzymes, alters the structure and, thus, digestibility of food. It also creates by-products that may be harmful.

For example, when we cook vegetables, it decreases water-soluble and heat sensitive nutrients, such as the carotenoids or the pigments that are full of anti-oxidants (). The insoluble fiber in vegetables too decreases as a result of cooking ().

If the foods is rich in carbohydrates and proteins heating initiates a reaction called the ‘Maillard reaction'. This reaction destroys many essential amino acids in the protein and causes them to cross-link with carbohydrates, making the food harder to digest (), It also results in formation of pro-inflammatory products such as AGE or advanced glycation end-products which can result in chronic disease (). When proteins are heated it can form compounds that can be cancerous ().

Cooking has its own advantages too. By heating vegetables, the microbes are killed and though the carotenoids or pigments decrease but it increases the bioavailability of certain carotenoids (,). Cooking may help decrease the level of pesticides in or on vegetables, (). Cooking helps inactivate certain substances that inhibit effectiveness of pancreatic enzymes in legumes such as beans, soybeans, peas, chickpeas, peanuts and lentils.

Top 9 Diabetes Diet Myths
Are you a Diabetic? Myths about food restrictions put you away from enjoying your meal? Here are a few facts and hints to help you make wise food choices.

Which is the Best Diet for Diabetes?

There is a unanimous consensus that the elements of a whole-food plant-based diet—legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, with limited or no intake of refined foods and animal products—are highly advantageous for remission and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Equally important, plant-based diets address the bigger picture for patients with diabetes by simultaneously treating cardiovascular disease and its risk factors such as obesity, hypertension and inflammation ().

Plant-based eating also carry significant environmental benefits. The World Health Organization and the United Nations have advocated diets higher in plant foods as not only effective for diabetes and obesity, but also more environmentally sustainable than diets abundant in animal products (). While there is more research which needs to be done but there is enough evidence to substantiate that plant-based diets do help prevent diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

Reference:

What is Diabetes? - (https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes)
Nutritional basis of type 2 diabetes remission - (https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1449)
Carotenoids and total phenolic contents in plant foods commonly consumed in Korea - (https://www.koreamed.org/SearchBasic.php?RID=2313632)
Dietary fiber of commonly fresh and cooked vegetables consumed in India - (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12294851_Dietary_fiber_of_commonly_fresh_and_cooked_vegetables_consumed_in_India)
Nutritional and toxicological aspects of the Maillard browning reaction in foods - (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408398909527499)
Diet-Derived Advanced Glycation End Products Are Major Contributors to the Body's Age Pool and Induce Inflammation in Healthy Subjects - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16037267/)
Influence of processing on protein quality - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2081988/)
Thermal processing enhances the nutritional value of tomatoes by increasing total antioxidant activity. - (https://europepmc.org/article/med/11982434)
Bioavailability of beta-carotene is lower in raw than in processed carrots and spinach in women - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9567003/)
Effect of household preparation on levels of pesticide residues in produce - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8946722/)
Is concordance with World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines for cancer prevention related to subsequent risk of cancer? Results from the EPIC study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22592101/)
Vitamin and mineral requirements in human nutrition - (https://www.fao.org/ag/humannutrition/36659-04427f866c8b2539d8e47d408cad5f3f9.pdf)