From: n8946410@animal.cc.wwu.edu (Cameron Parish)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: Re: Hypoglycemia
Date: 17 Nov 92 22:06:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: henson.1992Nov17.220638.3945
Organization: Western Washington University

Please pardon me for jumping in a little late...

In article <1992Nov16.132745.8754@iscsvax.uni.edu> howard@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:
>In article <1992Nov12.083848.27491@abo.fi>, abulsari@aton.abo.fi writes:

>> 
>>      Hypoglycemia, also known as low blood sugar, is a relatively rare
>> condition.
>>The only  way to
>> diagnose  hypoglycemia  is through a  glucose tolerance  test the same
>> type of test used to diagnose diabetes.
>
>Here's an example of what I was saying: no information is given as to 
>exactly what the occurance of Hypoglycemia is in the population.

	To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a whole lot of information
out there about the commonness of hypoglycemia in the population.  I am not
so sure, however, that is the 'rare disease' you claim it is; in a college
of 300, I know of four people (including myself)who have been diagnosed as 
hypoglycemic.  (Anecdotal evidence, I know, I know.  Still, would you 
consider that rare? (According to my doctor, hypoglycemia is not uncommon 
among very thin college-age women.))

>If the cause is not diet, how can the solution be diet? Why then, the 
>implication (via the proposed menu!) that a vegetarian diet is the solution? 
	
	I didn't read the proposed menu as implying that 'a vegetarian diet is
the solution.'  It seemed to me to be no more than a suggestion for how
to plan a diet for a hypoglycemic vegetarian person.   Controlling hypoglycemia
through diet was/is a major lifestyle change for me (eating every 2-3 hours,
ugh!) and such a meal plan could be a help. 


>>      The best way to control hypoglycemia is through a diet similar to
>> that used to control diabetes mellitus:  a reduction in simple sugars,
>> a large intake of complex carbohydrates, and frequent feedings. 
>> Also  advised is an increase in meal  frequency. 
>
>Who is doing the advising? Where is the statistical proof? What proportion
>of physicians who treat this condition agree with the recommendations
>given here? 
	
	This would be interesting to see.  

> Indeed, a vegetarian diet that is high in fat (such as a dairy 
>diet including whole milk and cheese), or a vegan diet that includes
>high-fat oil, nuts and avocado, may actually make the condition worse.

	What is it about fatty foods that may make the condition worse,
anyway?  
 
>What is needed are control groups and experimental groups who are given
>different diets over time.

	This is true.  I expect that such studies have been done (they 
certainly should have been) but I haven't had time to go digging them up.
If anyone does have any good hard experimental data, I'm sure we'd all like
to see some.

> This article does not make the case for a
>vegetarian diet

	You're right.  It doesn't.  Was that its aim?  

> nor do I see proof that a low-fat, high carbohydrate
>diet that may include meat is effective in controlling this rare condition.

	Again, anecdotal evidence:  it has been effective *for me* in
controlling my condition. The key seems to be, not so much the content of 
the diet, but the frequency of eating.  Furthermore, large amounts of 
simple sugars tend to give me a BIG sugar spike and then a pronounced 
sugar 'coma'; I don't have any statistics for you to play with, but if four 
of my friends and I each eat a couple of Hershey bars, *I'm* the one 
who winds up moaning groggily.  :(   Whether that's due to my hypoglycemia
I can't say for sure, of course, but my sugar tolerance went way down at
about the same time as I started mysteriously fainting and so on.  


Cam "let's not make a flame war, okay?" Parish