Recent research has shown that gastric bypass surgery, a treatment for obesity, reverses type II diabetes even in people who don’t lose weight or cut calories. There is a trial in progress that seems to show that blocking absorption of food in the duodenum will reverse type II diabetes – again, independent of obesity and caloric input.
Nobody has a clue yet about the causes of this, AFAIK. This may indeed be the H. Pylori of diabetes.
The standard model of type II diabetes is that excess insulin, caused by excess caloric intake, causes damage to cells’ insulin response, and also causes some of the health problems of diabetes (primarily vascular disease). This doesn’t fit with the newest finding.
On the other hand, maybe that finding is wrong. Who knows.
But one this is certain: there is a strong correlation between obesity and type II diabetes. Tristan is clueless – imagining that there is only one kind of diabetes (low insulin production – type I or juvenile diabetes) when the majority of diabetics are type II (insulin resistant).
There are also strong genetic components. One of the Indian tribes here in Arizona has the highest rate of type II diabetes of any ethnic group in the world – by far. The supposition is that the tribe went through a serious carbohydrate famine in the past, winnowing out all but those who process carbohydrates too effectively for the modern diet.
