An Ottawa medical researcher is heading a project to see if cutting carbs from the diets of people with type 2 diabetes can improve their management of the disease.
Over the course of their lives, about one-half of all young adults across Canada is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the most frequently diagnosed form of the disease. Although the risk can be mitigated by choosing a healthier lifestyle, millions of Canadians still face a high chance of developing diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune reaction in the body in which the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Type 1 is more likely to appear in adolescence and is often related to genetic factors.
Type 2 diabetes can be related to diet and other lifestyle factors, though genetics can play a role in the diagnosis.
Dr. Erin Mulvihill, an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, explained that in type 2 diabetes, the body can produce insulin but it isn’t being effectively responded to. Unlike in type 1 diabetes, where there is no insulin signal, with type 2 diabetes there is an insulin signal but no reception of that signal in the body.
This is why many type 2 diabetics take pills such as metformin or sitagliptin because these medications can help improve that signal.
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