Flashback Friday: What Causes Insulin Resistance and Diabetes?

Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are caused by a drop in insulin sensitivity blamed on “intramyocellular lipid,” the buildup of fat inside our muscle cells. Saturated fat can be toxic to the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, explaining why animal fat consumption can impair insulin secretion, not just insulin sensitivity.



Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

Captions for this video are available in several languages. To find yours, click on the settings wheel on the lower-right of the video and then "Subtitles/CC."

Image in video thanks to Wess via Flickr.

[CataNavarro]

I really apreciate flashback fridays as they are the perfect oportunity to remember important concepts left behind.

[gf]

This solved my (true to life) explanation of just how type 2 diabetes comes about. No more saturated fats for me, I'm too old to fight it. Thank you so very much.

[marsmarv]

Two years ago I was sitting at a dinner to honor my brothers wife passing due to lung cancer and of course the menu was all meat based so me and my wife were a sensation as we ate only bread and salad. Man sitting next to me said he got T2 and when I explained this process to him I got a blank stare as he could not beleive that the pork chop is not healthy for him. Lady doctor sitting close heard all this and also was sceptic of my explanation. They all cleaned up their plates and had another helping of grilled meats... Our habits and system are imprinted too strong, so only those who see outside the box can help themselves.

[lovestogarden]

This is interesting to me and has come at a perfect time. I couldn’t figure out why my morning sugar reading was so inconsistent. After dinners of multigrain pasta or multigrain breads, my morning sugar reading was under 120. After a day of and dinner of saturated fats and no multigrain pastas and breads, my reading is over 150. Makes total sense to me now.

[fannys]

I was a prediabetic when eating a vegetarian diet; when I went vegan, I was no more a prediabetic. It's been 4 years now! And beware of coconut oil, which has the double amount of saturated fats than dairy butter!

[KJSvitko]

If you want to be healthy you need to eat a whole food plant based diet and exercise regularly.

[liyakhan]

This video is the best explanation I have seen on insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes! Thanks, Dr. Greger and team, as always

[karenseale]

How Dr. Gregor can put SO MUCH information in such a concentrated video package amazes me!

[RabbitFoodFitness]

Thanks for the awesome video! People really need to know what is actually behind diabetes. Your videos always inspire me to keep posting on my channel!

[nurita]

What about all the people that do keto without this issue? I’ve even read about a bunch of people with type 2 diabetes that stopped needing insulin after doing keto.

[goku]

One of your most important video to date. Should be shown to every medical student.

[easyhealtheducation]

I used to listen to you in the past and was diagnosed as prediabetic. I was constantly having fatigue and tiredness etc. Then I listened to Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Nader Ali, Dr. Bret Sher, Dr. Ken Berry, Dr. Tim Noakes etc and tried high animal fat (butter, ghee, fatty meat) diet with no starchy food and lots of vegetables.
Contradicting your understanding of how it all works based on research papers, I am now only 67 Kg for 170cm height. It took only 2 months to shed extra 10kgs and did not gain it back again. I feel much better and stronger. My body is becoming more muscular even though I do not do any exercise (using any gym). When required, I can run half a mile without feeling tired. I feel so light now that I tend to run every now and then, just as I used to do when I was eight years old, just because it feels young (I am 42 now)!
Recently tried a 4 days water fast while replacing my carpet with laminate flooring and did not feel weak at all.
One key point you did not mention in this video and that is, when you eat high fat with no carbohydrate, you do not need insulin and so, the insulin receptor mechanism in the muscle cell does not matter. if you eat high natural fat diet, your body runs on Ketons and not on sugar.

I guess, try high natural fat (from animal source) diet with low carbs (loads of vegetables with no bread or rice or potato etc) for three months and then tell the world how your health was affected.

[CalebGod]

I'm very thankful for this video. It is exactly what I need to show my recently diagnosed diabetic father. He doesn't believe me when it comes out of my mouth but he said he'd be willing to listen to my sources for himself. So between Dr. Greger and Dr. Barnard he should be alright.

[sungheelee]

I have a neighbor who has her 7years old just got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
His diet is consistent of meat, dairy and sweets...😢

[ebbyc]

This explains why one needs to cut carbs to as close to zero as possible on a keto diet. The body just can't deal with it anymore. Makes sense. I wondered why that was. It also explains why high carb + high fat often leads to diabetes.

[KrisWiltseArt]

An excellent easy-to-understand explanation of insulin resistance, Being a visual person, your animation is very helpful. Thank you!

[sharit]

FANTASTIC explanation... thanks for doing the research and [re]posting!

[drvincentesposito]

This is such a great representation of T2DM and how it manifests itself. I really could not put it better myself!

[JoyManucduc]

My family has a history of diabetes. My father has type 2 diabetes and had angioplasty last year. I have been very persistent on being informative on this matter, not only for my father, but for me. I tried gluconize to track my intakes and physical activities, and the results are excellent. I also lost 4lbs since I am overweight for my age.

[rhok]

So how do you account for people who loose fat/weight following a high fat diet ( ketogenic)