JERUSALEM, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Israeli researchers have found a new diabetes treatment with significantly reduced dose of insulin injections, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) said Thursday.
In the study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers from the HUJI and Wolfson Medical Center in central Israel also found that diabetic patients can be treated with only three daily meals, instead of six as recommended today.
Diabetes chronic disorder occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin hormone which regulates blood sugar (type 1 diabetes), or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces (type 2 diabetes).
Diabetes patients suffer from high blood glucose levels, which may lead to serious damage to many body systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels, causing chronic renal failure, heart disease and amputation.
The Israeli researchers found that three balanced meals a day, at fixed times, can significantly reduce the daily insulin dose for type 2 diabetics within only three months.
They said that the new treatment leads to weight loss, and especially a significant reduction in appetite, daily insulin dose and level of hemoglobin A1C, a key clinical measure of blood sugar control.
In a 12-week trial, involving 28 overweight diabetic patients, the researchers found that treatment of three daily meals led to 5-kg average weight loss and a 1.2 percent reduction in hemoglobin A1C.
In addition, glucose levels in these patients were much lower after 12 weeks, leading to a reduction in total insulin dose, of approximately 26 units.
Moreover, in these patients there was a decrease in hunger and a craving for sweet and fatty foods.
Similar results were not observed in patients who were given six meals a day.
"Following these findings, we are now working to change the dietary guidelines for diabetics," the researchers concluded.
