Low-carb high fat diet, along with regular monitoring of the blood parameters through a mobile app with the doctor reversed diabetes.

‘A low-carb high fat diet along with regular physical activity initiates a 12% weight loss, reduction in HbA1c levels in diabetics.’

The study, "Effectiveness and Safety of a Novel Care Model for Management of Type 2 Diabetes at One Year: An Open Label, Non-Randomized, Controlled Study," oversaw 349 Type 2 diabetes patients. 




A control of 87 patients elected to receive "usual care" provided by their own physicians and dieticians following the American Diabetes Association recommendations. The other 262 patients elected to adopt individualized, low carbohydrate, high fat nutrition while being connected to a health coach and physician via a mobile application, which also contained educational resources.
The intervention studied focused on five points:
- access to a health coach,
- a physician for medication management,
- biomarker feedback,
- nutrition and behavior change education,
- an online community
The dietary intervention promoted non-starchy carbohydrate sources with a moderate protein intake. This model enabled patients to sustain nutritional ketosis, where the body uses fat as its primary fuel source instead of glucose. Additionally, patients interacted with their health coach or physician via the mobile application, sometimes multiple times per day.
"Due to the unique structure of the trial and use of telemedicine, we helped prevent any significant hypoglycemic events," Hallberg said. "Instead of patients scheduling an office visit, they could log their blood sugar and ketone levels in the app. Then, both the patient and I could track their levels and make adjustments accordingly."
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The findings demonstrated a reversal in diabetes progression. For example, of those receiving the Virta Treatment, 94 percent of patients on insulin decreased or eliminated their dosage by year’s end, and 60 percent of patients showed hemoglobin A1C levels below the diabetes threshold without medication or only metformin (metformin has indications outside of T2D). In contrast, usual care participants experienced no significant changes in A1C or diabetes medication use.
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CEO Sami Inkinen, and Drs. Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek co-founded Virta Health in 2014 to address Type 2 diabetes, which affects hundreds of millions of people globally and creates nearly $300 billion of economic impact in the United States alone.
"We have worked long and hard to establish an evidence-based treatment to reverse, not manage, type 2 diabetes to change the course of the epidemic and help patients achieve better health." Inkinen said. "We are committed to the success of each one of our patients and continually improving our approach in order to reach our goal of reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025."
Source-Eurekalert