Type 2 diabetics who have the disease up to 10 years could still reverse condition by losing weight
There is still no cure for diabetes, but the chronic ailment could be reversed. To remain free of diabetes, people who reversed the disease must keep their weight down.
The new study by Roy Taylor, professor of Medicine and Metabolism at the Newcastle University, says that Type 2 diabetics who successfully lose weight could reverse their condition. He explains that after fat is removed from their pancreas, insulin production returns to normal.
But the reversal, based on 30 volunteers who have Type 2 diabetes, applies only to those who had the ailment for 10 years or less. The participants had diabetes from 8 to 12 years, but only 12 who had the ailment for less than 10 years reversed their condition and remain free from diabetes after six months. After six months, a 13th volunteer also reversed the condition, according to the study published on Tuesday in Diabetes Care.
To lose weight, the volunteers went on the same diet of 600 to 700 calories a day, reports Medical News Today. The diet consists of three diet shakes per day and 240 grammes of non-starchy vegetables for eight weeks. Then they gradually returned to eating normal food over the next two weeks, but with very careful instruction on how much to eat. To maintain their weight loss, they ate one-third less before the study.
But Taylor has some good news also for those with diabetes beyond 10 years. “If you had the diagnosis for longer than that, then don’t give up hope – major improvement in blood sugar control is possible.”
He says the finding support his Personal Fat Threshold theory that “If a person gains more weight than they personally can tolerate, then diabetes is triggered, but if they lose that amount of weight then they go back to normal.” Taylor points out that people differ in how much weight they could carry without affecting their metabolism.
He adds that 70 percent of severely obese people do not have diabetes. The 13 volunteers who reversed their conditions remained overweight or obese, but their fat did not drift back to clog up their pancreas, Taylor discloses.
The professor stresses the discovery is still too early to apply to all diabetics. A bigger trial with 280 volunteers is underway to study if diabetics could reverse their ailment through weight loss under the care of a family doctor or nurse.
