Dr. Staffan Lindeberg has published a new study using the "paleolithic diet" to treat type II diabetics (free full text). Type II diabetes, formerly known as late-onset diabetes until it began appearing in children, is typically thought to develop as a result of insulin resistance (a lowered tissue response to the glucose-clearing function of insulin). This is often followed by a decrease in insulin secretion due to degeneration of the insulin-secreting pancreatic beta cells.
After Dr. Lindeberg's wild success treating patients with type II diabetes or glucose intolerance, in which he normalized the glucose tolerance of all 14 of his volunteers in 12 weeks, he set out to replicate the experiment. This time, he began with 13 men and women who had been diagnosed with type II diabetes for an average of 9 years.
Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century.
Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O'Keefe JH, Brand-Miller J.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Feb;81(2):341-54. Review.
PMID: 15699220
Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study.
onsson T, Granfeldt Y, Ahren B, Branell UC, Palsson G, Hansson A, Soderstrom M, Lindeberg S.
Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009 Jul 16;8(1):35. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 19604407
doi:10.1186/1475-2840-8-35
A Palaeolithic diet improves glucose tolerance more than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischaemic heart disease.
Lindeberg S, Jönsson T, Granfeldt Y, Borgstrand E, Soffman J, Sjöström K, Ahrén B.
Diabetologia. 2007 Sep;50(9):1795-807. Epub 2007 Jun 22.
PMID: 17583796
DOI: 10.1007/s00125-007-0716-y
Conclusions/interpretation A Palaeolithic diet may improve glucose tolerance independently of decreased waist circumference.