S2E40: Dietary Interventions for the Prevention of Diabetes (Type-2) w/ Dr. Nicola Guess PhD

Season 2 Episode #40

Dr. Bubbs interviews diabetes expert Dr. Nicola PhD RD to talk all things diabetes (type-2) and nutrition. Nicola defines pre-diabetes and diabetes (type-2), outlines the current nutrition guidelines for the prevention of diabetes (T2D) and why we’re struggling with epidemic levels of diabetes worldwide. She also highlights how weight loss is the biggest driver of diabetes prevention and delves into different nutrition strategies – low-carb, Mediterranean, intermittent fasting and low energy diets – to achieve this goal. As well, Nicola touches on how the rate of weight loss appears to be an independent driver of the glucose-lowering effect, the importance of the first insulin response in this whole story, and her thoughts on how to stem the tide of the current diabetes (T2D) epidemic.

SUMMARY OF EPISODE:

2:00 – Definition of pre-diabetes and diabetes (type-2)

4:00 – Current nutrition guidelines for prevention type-2 diabetes

6:00 – Why can’t patients stick to diabetes prevention diets

9:00 – Low-carb diets and prevention of type-2 diabetes

11:45 - Mediterranean diets and prevention of type-2 diabetes

16:00 – Role of ultra-processed food in calorie consumption, weight gain, diabetes

18:00 – Intermittent fasting and prevention of type-2 diabetes

22:30 – Low-energy diets and the prevention of type-2 diabetes

25:40 - Combination of weight loss and caloric restriction (10kg or more) in normalization of beta-cell function and remission of type-2 diabetes

27:30 – How to maintain weight loss in the long-term

30:25 – Busting the “insulin-spike” myth and unpacking the first insulin response

33:30 – Pulsatile insulin secretion response

35:45 – CGMs, C-peptide and diabetes support

37:45 – The current processed food environment

42:50 – Nicole “big rocks” of nutrition for diabetes (type-2) prevention 


About Dr. Nicola Guess RD, PhD

Dr. Nicola Guess is a Registered Dietitian with a PhD in the dietary management of prediabetes from Imperial College London. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London where her research focuses on the role of diet in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. She has a particular interest in the use of low-carbohydrate diets in the management of type 2 diabetes, and leads a research programme investigating dietary modification - including increasing protein or the use of very-low-calorie-diets - on the factors underlying type 2 diabetes. Follow Dr. Nicola Guess on Twitter @Dr__Guess.


Links to Research Papers

Dietary Interventions for the Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes in High-Risk Groups: Current State of Evidence and Future Research Needs