‘Fasting most effective intervention for diabetes prevention, remission’

ISLAMABAD: Fasting is the most effective and fastest intervention for diabetes prevention and remission and now fasting is being promoted by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) as an effective strategy for prevention and management of type 2 diabetes, president-elect of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Dr. Peter Schwarz said on Sunday.

“A person can live without eating for seven weeks so taking no calories for two weeks a year is not a big deal. If a person manages to fast for 14 days once a year without taking any calorie, drinks three to four litres of water every day and walk 10,000 steps daily, he or she can prevent themselves from contracting diabetes and those who are diabetics can reverse their diabetes”, Dr. Schwarz told International Diabetes and Ramadan Conference 2024.

Dozens of health experts including leading endocrinologists, gynecologists, psychiatrists, physicians and surgeons from various countries of the world including United Kingdom, Egypt, United Arab Emirates as well as other parts of the world and Pakistan attended the two-day moot and presented their research on health benefits of the fasting as well as ways and means to make fasting safer for people with diabetes.

The Diabetes and Ramadan Conference is organised every year before the start of the holy month of Ramzan to educate people living with diabetes on safe fasting while people with advanced stages of chronic illnesses, including diabetes with advanced kidney disease and other diseases, are advised to consult their physicians before fasting.

Dr Peter Schwarz maintained fasting for two weeks continuously makes the liver free of all the accumulated fats, which helps in prevention and remission of diabetes.

“Even 100 grams of fats in the liver makes a person non-responsive to the physical activity so if a person is having fatty liver, even if he or she walks 10,000 steps a day, the physical activity would only provide the benefits of around 2,000 steps”, Dr Schwarz added.

He maintained that fasting was the best ever intervention for humans for diabetes prevention and diabetes remission. “If a person is newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, if he or she fasts for two weeks without taking calories and lives only on fluids while walking 10,000 steps a day, they would not require any treatment”, he added.

He said air pollution is also among the causes of type 2 diabetes as pollutants in the air increase insulin resistance and result in other metabolic changes that cause diabetes.

Dr. Peter Schwarz said eating less slows ageing and results in longer life expectancy, it reduces risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

International and Pakistani health experts and religious scholars suggested the people with diabetes to see their physicians before fasting, and get their dose of medicine and insulin adjusted.