A fasting diet may help to reverse diabetes, shows study

In the study, led by researchers from the University of Southern California, mice were placed on fasting mimicking diet (FMD) for four days each week which showed remarkable reversal of diabetes. The mice regained healthy insulin production, reduced insulin resistance and demonstrated more stable levels of blood glucose, even in the later stages of the disease, the researchers said in the paper published in the journal Cell. 

The genes normally active in the developing pancreas of embryonic/foetal mice are reactivated in diabetic adult mice when cycling FMD with normal diets. This increases production of the protein neurogenin-3 (Ngn3) and, as a result, promotes the creation of new, healthy insulinproducing beta cells. 

Researchers also examined pancreatic cell cultures from human donors and found that, in cells from Type 1 diabetes patients, nutrients mimicking fasting also increased expression of the Ngn3 protein and insulin production.