A study organized by researchers at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina, in conjunction with the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, has concluded that following a low-fat, vegan diet may actually reverse the symptoms of diabetes.

The study had participants with type II diabetes and assigned them to either a vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet. Vegans cut out all animal products, including dairy and meat, and had less refined sugar. The ADA diet varies based on factors such as body weight, cholesterol, so it is much more specific in what dieters can eat. The vegan diet was easier to follow because the people in that group did not have to count calories or measure portion sizes, unlike the ADA diet, and this was evidenced by the fact that fewer people in the vegan group dropped out of the study than in the other group.

By the end of the study, which lasted 22 weeks, "43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses." An additional benefit was the weight loss (14-lb on the vegan diet, 6.8-lb non-vegan) many participants experienced.

The results of the study are an indicator that dietary changes can have a significant impact on health and some physicians hope that such changes will be considered as a first line of treatment in cases of type II diabetes, instead of automatically reverting to drugs. In all probability, a combination of the two will work the best, but actually seeing a reversal of the effects of diabetes is strong evidence and will hopefully motivate more people to change their diets.