Red Light Therapy for Diabetes and Insulin Resistance

red light therapy for diabetes

Over 30 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with diabetes, all of whom were told they have a terminal disease that cannot be cured.  They’re told that all they can do is manage their symptoms by eating less sugar and getting regular insulin injections.  However, as you’re about to find out, the root cause of diabetes and how to reverse it has been known scientifically for over 70 years.  Obviously, profiting from selling insulin is far more important to the medical industry than reducing humanity’s suffering.

In 1947, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist discovered that overconsumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids can cause diabetes.  This means that every time you eat a large amount of polyunsaturated fats like vegetable oil you’re becoming temporarily diabetic and insulin resistant.  And if you enough of these fats, the diabetes metabolism will become chronic.

In the decades since this landmark study, researchers have shown in both animals and in humans that eating a diet low in polyunsaturated fat can completely reverse diabetes.

In 2001, a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine admitted that “Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by changes in the lifestyles of high-risk subjects”[1] so contrary to popular belief, diabetes is a metabolic disease not a genetic one and it can be completely reversed.

In this video, you’ll learn what causes diabetes and how to use treatments like red light therapy and dietary changes to help you safely and effectively prevent or reverse the disease.

(Click here to watch on YouTube)

Mainstream Theory of Diabetes

Mainstream theory of diabetes is that it’s the inability to use glucose for one of two reasons – hence the Type I and Type II diabetes classifications.  Before we get into the two types, for those who are unaware insulin is a blood sugar regulating hormone which shuttles glucose into cells for use.

Mainstream Theory of Type I Diabetes:  “Immune System Attacks the Pancreas”

In Type I Diabetes it is claimed that the body has stopped producing insulin.  If you ask your doctor why, he will tell you that your immune system has attacked and destroyed the insulin-producing beta cells of your pancreas.  As a result, instead of being transported into your cells sugar builds up in the bloodstream.  Insulin supplementation is the common treatment.

Mainstream Theory of Type II Diabetes: “No idea”

In Type II Diabetes it is claimed that the body doesn’t produce or use insulin well.  Instead of moving into your cells where it’s needed for energy, once again sugar builds up in your bloodstream.  According to the Mayo Clinic, “Exactly why this happens is uncertain.”  Insulin supplementation and other medical drugs are common treatments.

Symptoms of Diabetes:

Initially symptoms are minor like frequent urination, muscle wasting and fatigue but eventually they progress to many life threatening conditions like heart attack, stroke, nerve damage, organ damage, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

Diagnostic Methods:

If it is found that a person has high blood sugar on a blood test, the doctor assumes that the pancreas is failing to produce enough insulin or cells have lost sensitivity to insulin.  Another diagnostic test is to search for ketones in the urine.  “If your cells are starved for energy, your body may begin to break down fat. This produces toxic acids known as ketones.” (Mayo clinic)

Is a Cure for Diabetes in sight?

Despite the use of insulin and other drugs as well as massive campaigns to “improve” eating habits, both the incidence and mortality from diabetes have been increasing over the past 100 years, especially in children.[2]

Bursting the Sugar Bubble

One of the misconceptions about diabetes is that sugar causes it.  Assuming that high blood sugar is caused by a lack of insulin or insulin resistance ignores the real cause of elevated blood sugar.

“Contrary to what is popularly believed, sugar doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes. Bernardo Houssay’s work (which won him the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1947) on diabetes proved polyunsaturated fats’ causative role in diabetic conditions. In his experiment, saturated fat in the form of coconut oil was found very protective; protein and sugar proved protective against diabetes but to a lesser extent.”
– Dr. Raymond Peat

Another interesting thing to note from that study was that mortality on the high coconut oil diet was zero[3].

Is Sugar Dangerous for Diabetics?

A common recommendation by doctors to patients with diabetes is to drastically reduce their intake of sugar because, it is claimed, that eating sugar will worsen their condition.  But as usual, empirical reality paints an entirely different picture.  A number of studies have looked at the effects of high sugar diets as well as carbohydrate restriction in diabetic patients.

  • High sugar diets don’t worsen blood sugar control or insulin secretion
    In 1996, Brazilian scientists wrote that “Our data suggest that in the short and middle terms, high fructose and sucrose diets do not adversely affect glycemia, lipemia, or insulin and C-peptide secretion in well-controlled type II diabetic subjects.”[4]
    And an American study from the University of Minnesota had similar findings, reporting that “A high sucrose diet did not adversely affect glycemia or lipemia in type II diabetic subjects.”[5]
  • Carbohydrate restriction does not benefit glycemia or lipid control in type II diabetics
    A 1984 study from the American Journal of Medicine reports“That isocaloric sucrose and carbohydrate restriction below usual daily levels (120 g per day) offers no consistent benefit in glycemia or lipid control in overt type II diabetes.”[6]

It’s time to forget everything you know about diabetes.  Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes or make diabetes worse.  In fact, as you’ll soon find out sugar is essential for the recovery of a diabetic patient.

Bursting the Vegetable Oil Bubble

For around 100 years, the damaging effects of polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) have been known.  In that time it has been discovered that liquid vegetable oils can cause diabetes.

As far back as the 1920s, Dr. S. Sweeney produced reversible diabetes in all of his medical school students by feeding them a high-vegetable-oil diet for 48 hours.  None of the students had previously been diabetic.[7]

In recent years this research has also been replicated in animals.  Scientists from Duke University have been able to cause test animals to develop diabetes simply by feeding them diets high in polyunsaturated fat.[8]

Vegetable oil and other unsaturated fats cause diabetes

Vegetable oil and other Polyunsaturated fats cause diabetes.[9]

Reversing Diabetes by Restricting Unsaturated Fat

If feeding animals or humans unsaturated fat can cause diabetes, then what happens if those same fats are restricted?

Restricting fat intake in diabetic animals has shown to reverse Type II diabetes in a study titled “Low fat diet alone reverses type 2 diabetes in mice.”
[10]

In humans, Clinical studies using low-fat diets have also shown complete reversal of the disease.
[11]

Diabetes and The Randle Cycle

So far we’ve established that sugar doesn’t cause diabetes and that it’s really caused by vegetable oil.  If you’re wondering how this could be so, the key concept to understand this is called The Randle Cycle.

In 1963, P.J. Randle clearly described the inhibition of glucose oxidation by free fatty acids and it has been confirmed many times since then.  When the concentration of fat in the bloodstream is increased by eating fatty foods or by releasing fats from the tissues during stress (lipolysis), the oxidation of sugar is suppressed.

Conversely, when an abundant amount of sugar is eaten, fat oxidation is suppressed and sugar oxidation is switched back on.  This is why sugar can actually be medicinal for a patient diagnosed with diabetes.

the randle cycle and diabetes link to unsaturated fats

Diabetes Care. 1996 Apr;19(4):394-5.
Fatty acids and insulin resistance.
Boden G.
We have demonstrated that physiological elevations in plasma free fatty acid concentrations inhibit insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in a dose-dependent manner in normal control subjects and in patients with NIDDM.
Two possible mechanisms were identified: 1) a fat-related inhibition of glucose transport or phosphorylation that appeared after 3-4 h of fat infusion and 2) a decrease in muscle glycogen synthase activity that appeared after 4-6 h of fat infusion. We conclude that elevations of plasma FFAs caused insulin resistance and hence may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance in obesity and NIDDM.[12]

5 Defining Features of Diabetes

There are many signatures in the body that provide evidence a person is in a diabetic state.  Below are a list of 5 of them so we can get an even deeper understanding of what’s happening in a person with diabetes.  In order to prevent or reverse a disease it’s critical to understand what that disease is.

  1. Hypothyroidism
    Liver cells require glucose to convert T4 to T3 so diabetics become hypothyroid by default.
  2. Increased oxidative stress
    “Evidence has accumulated indicating that the generation of reactive oxygen species (oxidative stress) may play an important role in the etiology of diabetic complications.”[13]
  3. Increased lactic acid
    Since the use of blood sugar is blocked in diabetes, the body converts it to lactic acid.
  4. Increased blood glucose/Inability to use sugar
    Blood sugar cannot be used and so it builds up in the blood.
  5. Impaired insulin secretion
    Insulin is secreted by beta cells of the pancreas.  In people with diabetes, beta cells become damaged and insulin secretion is reduced.

How PUFA Causes Diabetes

Now we’re going to put the theory that unsaturated fats cause diabetes to the test by examining its effects on the 5 diabetic features above.

  1. PUFA Causes Hypothyroidism
    PUFA blocks the conversion of thyroid hormone in the liver.
  2. PUFA Increases Oxidative Stress
    An Italian study from the University of Naples wrote
    “In conclusion, fasting plasma FFA seems to enhances oxidative stress, which might contribute to the disruptive effects of plasma FFA on insulin-mediated glucose uptake.”[14]
  3. PUFA Increases Lactic Acid
    By inhibiting respiration within the mitochondria of cells,
    PUFA causes increased lactic acid production.
  4. PUFA impairs Glucose Use
    A 1991 study from the Helsinki University Hospital in Finland found that PUFA “block the oxidation of glucose by cells [via the Randle cycle] and the rise in blood sugar is the result.”[15]
  5. PUFA impairs insulin secretion
    A group of French scientists wrote, “Studies performed in the rat suggest that impaired glucose-induced insulin secretion could also be related to chronic exposure of pancreatic beta cells to elevated plasma free fatty acid levels.”[16]
    Another study found polyunsaturated fat impairs glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and saturated fat enhances it.[17]

How Red Light Therapy Can Treat Diabetes

Now we’re going to see if red light therapy can help alleviate these 5 hallmarks of diabetes below.

  1. Red Light Improves Thyroid Function
    “These findings suggest that LLLT was effective at improving thyroid function,” a Brazilian study reported in 2013.[18]
  2. Red Light Reduces Oxidative Stress
    RLT reduces oxidative stress by acting as a potent antioxidant and maintaining a high level of glucose oxidation within mitochondria.[19]
  3. Red Light Reduces Lactic Acid
    A 2015 study from the Universidade Federal de São Paulo in Santos, Brazil found that by lowering lactic acid production during exercise, near-infrared laser therapy can help stimulate faster recovery.[20]
  4. Red Light Restores Glucose Use
    In 2015, Iranian scientists studied the effects of red light on glucose use in Type 2 Diabetic patients and concluded,Comparing before and after laser therapy, showed a significant decrease in glucose level.”[21]
  5. Red Light Enhances insulin secretion
    A 1999 study found that red light stimulates regeneration of pancreatic b cells in Type II Diabetic patients, even in advanced cases.[22]

More Evidence-Based Treatments for Diabetes

Based on scientific and empirical data, logic and reason here’s how one can treat the root cause of diabetes. There are two ways to apply The Randle Cycle for the treatment of diabetes:  The first is to lower levels of free fatty acids within the bloodstream, which a number of studies have called a promising approach to the treatment of diabetes.[23]  “These persuasive data support a link between FFA reduction and improved insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial ATP production.”[24]  The second way to apply The Randle Cycle for the treatment of diabetes is to increase levels of sugar in the bloodstream.

  • Step 1:  Lower levels of free fatty acids within the bloodstream
    We do this 1) by eating less polyunsaturated fats by replacing vegetable oils in our diet with coconut oil and butter and 2) by inhibiting the release of free fatty acids from our tissues during stress in a process called lipolysis.  Red light therapy is a potent inhibitor of lipolysis.  The drug Aspirin and the vitamin Niacinamide are two other ways to inhibit lipolysis.
  • Step 2:  Increase levels of sugar within the bloodstream
    “Sucrose and ripe fruits keep PUFA in storage, lower cortisol, and support thyroid function and serve as protective foods for the diabetic.  Ripe fruits also tend to be less glycemic than complex carbohydrates like pastas, cereals, and breads (which are promoted as part of a diabetic diet) and also contain potassium which has insulin-like function. These sugars have also shown beneficial in repairing β-cell function of the pancreas which secrete insulin.”
    – Dr. Raymond Peat

Conclusion

With millions of patients spending money on insulin, insulin sales are one of the many cash cows of the medical industry.  And despite the use of insulin and other drugs as well as massive campaigns to “improve” food choices, both the incidence and mortality from diabetes have been increasing over the past 100 years, especially in children.

After looking at the scientific evidence it becomes clear that what the medical culture tells us about diabetes is almost entirely false.  Some of the many truths we’ve unearthed in this presentation include:

  • Sugar does not cause diabetes.
  • High sugar diets do not make diabetic patients worse.
  • Avoiding sugar does not improve the health of diabetics.
  • Eating too much polyunsaturated fat can cause diabetes.
  • And restricting polyunsaturated fat intake can completely reverse the disease in human patients.

Rather than being dependent on the medical establishment for the rest of their lives, diabetic patients now have an evidence-based treatment option that will address the root cause of their condition.  By lowering levels of free fatty acids in the bloodstream using treatments like red light therapy, aspirin and niacinamide, and elevating blood sugar levels by consuming ripe fruit, oxidation of glucose can be switched back on to safely restore insulin sensitivity and glucose use by all cells and tissues.

References

  1. Tuomilehto J, Lindström J, Eriksson JG, et al. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. N Engl J Med. 2001;344(18):1343-50.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11333990
  2. Barat P, Valade A, Brosselin P, Alberti C, Maurice-tison S, Lévy-marchal C. The growing incidence of type 1 diabetes in children: the 17-year French experience in Aquitaine. Diabetes Metab. 2008;34(6 Pt 1):601-5.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18952477
  3. Houssay BA, Martínez C. Experimental Diabetes and Diet. Science. 1947;105(2734):548-9.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17752774
  4. Malerbi DA, Paiva ES, Duarte AL, Wajchenberg BL. Metabolic effects of dietary sucrose and fructose in type II diabetic subjects. Diabetes Care. 1996;19(11):1249-56.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8908389
  5. Bantle JP, Swanson JE, Thomas W, Laine DC. Metabolic effects of dietary sucrose in type II diabetic subjects. Diabetes Care. 1993;16(9):1301-5.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8404438
  6. Jellish WS, Emanuele MA, Abraira C. Graded sucrose/carbohydrate diets in overtly hypertriglyceridemic diabetic patients. Am J Med. 1984;77(6):1015-22.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6391162
  7. Jamal AR Al, Ibrahim A, Effects of olive oil on lipid profile and blood glucose in type2 diabetic patients. Int J of D and M. 2001;19(1):19-22.
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282737777_Effects_of_olive_oil_on_lipid_profiles_and_blood_glucose_in_type2_diabetic_patients
  8. Parekh PI, Petro AE, Tiller JM, Feinglos MN, Surwit RS. Reversal of diet-induced obesity and diabetes in C57BL/6J mice. Metab Clin Exp. 1998;47(9):1089-96.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9751238
  9. Houssay BA, Martínez C. Experimental Diabetes and Diet. Science. 1947;105(2734):548-9.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17752774
  10. Low-fat diet alone reversed type 2 diabetes in mice. Compr Ther. 1999;25(1):60-1.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9987598
  11. Barnard RJ, Massey MR, Cherny S, O’brien LT, Pritikin N. Long-term use of a high-complex-carbohydrate, high-fiber, low-fat diet and exercise in the treatment of NIDDM patients. Diabetes Care. 1983;6(3):268-73.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6307614
  12. Boden G. Fatty acids and insulin resistance. Diabetes Care. 1996;19(4):394-5.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8729171
  13. Giugliano D, Ceriello A, Paolisso G. Oxidative stress and diabetic vascular complications. Diabetes Care. 1996;19(3):257-67.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8742574
  14. Paolisso G, Gambardella A, Tagliamonte MR, et al. Does free fatty acid infusion impair insulin action also through an increase in oxidative stress?. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996;81(12):4244-8.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8954022
  15. Groop LC, Saloranta C, Shank M, Bonadonna RC, Ferrannini E, Defronzo RA. The role of free fatty acid metabolism in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance in obesity and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1991;72(1):96-107.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1986032
  16. Girard J. [Role of free fatty acids in the insulin resistance of non-insulin-dependent diabetes]. Diabete Metab. 1995;21(2):79-88.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7621976
  17. Dobbins RL, Szczepaniak LS, Myhill J, et al. The composition of dietary fat directly influences glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in rats. Diabetes. 2002;51(6):1825-33.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12031970
  18. Höfling DB, Chavantes MC, Juliano AG, et al. Low-level laser in the treatment of patients with hypothyroidism induced by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Lasers Med Sci. 2013;28(3):743-53.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22718472
  19. Zhang J, Yue X, Luo H, et al. Illumination with 630 nm Red Light Reduces Oxidative Stress and Restores Memory by Photo-Activating Catalase and Formaldehyde Dehydrogenase in SAMP8 Mice. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2019;30(11):1432-1449.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29869529
  20. Assis L, Yamashita F, Magri AM, Fernandes KR, Yamauchi L, Renno AC. Effect of low-level laser therapy (808 nm) on skeletal muscle after endurance exercise training in rats. Braz J Phys Ther. 2015;19(6):457-65.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4668339
  21. Kazemikhoo N, et al., The Hypoglycemic effect of intravenous laser therapy in diabetic mellitus type 2 patients; a systematic review and meta-analysis
    http://medical-clinical-reviews.imedpub.com/the-hypoglycemic-effect-of-intravenous-lasertherapy-in-diabetic-mellitus-type-2-patientsa-systematic-review-and-metaanalyses.php
  22. RamdawonP (1999) Bioresonance information laser therapy of diabetes mellituse a first clinical experience of the hypoglycemic effect of low level laser terapy and its perspectives, Paper presented at the North American Laser Therapy Association Conference.
  23. Boden G, Carnell LH. Nutritional effects of fat on carbohydrate metabolism. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003;17(3):399-410.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12962693
  24. Goodpaster BH, Coen PM, Improved Mitochondrial function is linked with improved insulin sensitivity through reductions in FFA. 2014; 63(8): 2611-2612.
    http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/63/8/2611.full

5 Bonus Facts About Diabetes

  1. Women are much more likely than men to develop diabetes
  2. Increasingly, old age itself is seen to be “like diabetes (Meneilly, et al.; Smith, et al.)
  3. Since glucose is needed by liver cells to produce the active (T3) form of thyroid, diabetics are hypothyroid by default.
  4. “Adrenaline tends to be high in the hypothyroid encouraging lipolysis. As a result of this process, a high concentration of liberated PUFA have the unfortunate tendency to oxidize creating dangerous free radicals while at the same time increasing production of inflammatory prostaglandins. Diabetic conditions have a strong link to increased oxidative stress leading to deterioration of the insulin producing β-cells.”
  5. Dr. Broda Barnes gave all of his diabetic patients a thyroid supplement, and found that none of them developed the expected complications of diabetes.