54% Remission Rate Of Type 2 Diabetes With This Simple Fix!

…and other items from this week’s health science news:

Sometimes, simplest is best

A recent 24-week randomized clinical trial involving 96 adults aged 18–45 with early-onset type 2 diabetes and obesity, recruited in the UK and Canada, found that 54% of those following an intensive diet and exercise program achieved remission, compared with 4% receiving usual medical care; the intervention group was thus 21x more likely to achieve remission, after statistical adjustment.

As for what the program consisted of:

• Diet intervention: participants initially consumed 800–900 calories daily, comprising 30% protein, 50% carbohydrate, and 20% fat, with at least two liters of calorie-free fluids; the first two weeks involved replacing all meals with specially formulated nutritional products, followed by one conventional meal daily from weeks three to 12, including 60–90 g of protein from all sources combined, one portion of fruit, and two portions of non-starchy vegetables, before transitioning to a weight-maintenance diet.
• Exercise intervention: participants completed supervised aerobic and resistance exercise twice weekly, plus one independent exercise session each week during the first 12 weeks, followed by independent exercise during the weight-maintenance phase.

Read in full: Type 2 diabetes breakthrough as 54% achieve remission in just 6 months

Related: How To Prevent And Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

Male or female doctor? There may be an important difference

…and that difference may be a matter of life and death!

Researchers (Dr. Angela Jerath et al.) analyzed 958,150 adults hospitalized for one of seven common medical diagnoses, including acute myocardial infarction and pneumonia. Of those participants, 259,759 received care from female physicians and 698,391 from male physicians.

The results, in few words: patients treated by female physicians had a lower mortality rate (12.3% vs. 13.7%) and a slightly lower hospital readmission rate (18.6% vs. 18.9%) than those treated by male physicians.

Those differences may not seem huge, but given the same size, they are, especially the mortality rate, and it makes a huge difference especially if you’re one of the 1.4% who lives or dies differently.

Further, greater exposure to female physicians during hospitalization was associated with 7% lower odds of dying within 30 days, with similar patterns observed at 90 days and one year.

As to why this happens, the most likely explanation currently hypothesized is that female physicians may engage in more patient-centered communication, spend more time with patients, order guideline-directed treatments more frequently, consult colleagues, and involve patients in shared decision-making.

Read in full: Hospitalized medical patients may fare better when treated by female physicians, study finds

Related:How To Make Your Doctor’s Appointment Do More For You

Brain fog not cleared by testosterone

Brain fog is a common symptom of untreated menopause, and many wonder if testosterone (which declines in later years in women as in men) may be what we need.

It’s not.

Specifically, a recent systematic review examined five studies involving women aged 41–65 to determine whether testosterone therapy improves cognitive function during and after menopause, including executive function, verbal learning and memory, and visuospatial learning and memory.

In part of this research, participants received testosterone or a placebo daily, weekly, or monthly for periods ranging from four to 26 weeks; a meta-analysis of three randomized controlled trials involving 244 women found no statistically significant improvements in cognitive function with testosterone.

Read in full: Review finds no evidence that testosterone improves brain fog during menopause

Related: Is It Worth Taking Testosterone In Menopause?

Take care!