Seen in Asia and India so far since more malnutrition occurs there than in the West. Since 1955 when this condition was first described it was thought to be a subgroup of Type I Diabetes but now it has been differentiated and given its own classification. This occurred at the International Diabetes Federation’s (IDF’s) World Diabetes Congress, held in Bangkok, Thailand. In January 2025, a panel met in India to draft a consensus statement about the condition, due to be published soon, Meredith Hawkins, MD, professor of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, told Medscape Medical News.
Essentially these people don’t make insulin that well when they are malnourished and when fed a regular or high carbohydrate diet to “fatten” them up since it is the easiest and cheapest diet to provide in these countries, they develop high blood sugar or Diabetes. When you give them insulin it must be administered slowly in low doses or it will kill them unlike Type I Diabetics so proper diagnosis is crucial.
A low carb, high protein diet is essential and I would say high fiber too in getting these people back into a healthy insulin stable state. While treating the malnutrition with diet, the medical community currently uses low dose insulin not high unlike other forms of diabetes along with other glucose drugs which are also usually needed.
Traditionally we think of Diabetes types this way:
Type I as an autoimmune disease where your own T-Killer cells attack your pancreas and damage it so you cannot make insulin. Type II we think of over-eating; red meat, carbs, and sugar for years so you end up burning out your pancreas and it just cannot make insulin efficiently any longer unless rested (I have cared for many Type II Diabetics and gotten them off their insulin and done it all with diet and basic supplements). Now in Type 5 we see insulin production being shut down by starvation (a new conceopt) and lack of protein more than calories. So you can have an overweight Type 5 Diabetic and an underweight Type 5 Diabetic. Digestion affects everything and a balanced diet is crucial for the human condition no matter what your genetics. So pay attention and stop overeating or over-indulging in one type of food and you will be healthier without drugs.
Demetrios Kydonieus, Chiropractic Nutritionist since 1988