Strict diet ‘reverses’ symptoms of diabetes

PEOPLE with type-2 diabetes could reverse their condition by following a low-calorie diet, according to research.

The expert behind the study said the “remarkable” findings showed an eight-week diet, consisting of just 600 calories a day, could prompt the body to produce its own insulin.

The breakthrough suggests a dramatic drop in calories has a direct effect on reducing fat accumulated in the pancreas, which in turn prompts insulin cells to “wake up”.

The condition affects up to 180,000 people in Ireland.

The findings are consistent with the belief that a lack of insulin secretion — which is vital for blood sugar control — is due to an accumulation of fat in the liver and pancreas.

Researchers at Newcastle University carried out an early-stage trial on 11 people with diabetes.

They each followed a diet of liquid drinks (containing 46.4% carbohydrate, 32.5% protein and 20.1% fat, with vitamins and minerals) and non-starchy vegetables.

After just one week, pre-breakfast blood sugar levels had returned to normal among the group.

Over two months, insulin cell function in the pancreas increased towards normal and pancreatic fat decreased, as shown on MRI scans.

Three months later, after going back to normal eating, seven people remained free of diabetes.

Professor Roy Taylor said: “For many years, it has been assumed that type-2 diabetes is a life sentence.

“However, we have been able to show that it is in fact reversible. We have been able to put diabetes into reverse by a very low calorie diet over a short period of time.

“What is really important and very new is the changes in the body that go along with this.

“Specifically, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas have gone to sleep in type-2 diabetes; they are not really doing very much.

“As the level of fat in the pancreas has reduced, we have seen these insulin-producing cells come completely back to normal, and that is truly remarkable.”

Prof Taylor, who hopes that the research will be translated into future treatments, added: “This is a radical change in understanding type-2 diabetes.

“We have shown a very basic mechanism of type-2 diabetes. The beta (insulin) cells, if they are exposed to fat, don’t work. If they are protected from the fat, or that goes away, they perform normally.

“It is quite possible that we may be able to devise medicines that block the effect of fat at the level of the pancreas, and could allow normal function.”

Keith Frayn, professor of human metabolism at Oxford University, said: “For many years, doctors have believed that type-2 diabetes is a lifelong condition: It can be treated, but not cured.

“In the last few years, that idea has been disproved. People who lose large amounts of weight following surgery to alter their stomach size or the plumbing of their intestines often lose their diabetes and no longer need treatment.

“But an unanswered question has been whether this is because of some special effect of altering the intestinal function, or simply because of the loss of weight.

“It offers great hope for many people with diabetes, although it must be said that not everyone will find it possible to stick to the extremely low calorie diet used in this study.”

Gordon Parmley, 67, from Stocksfield in Northumberland, was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes six years ago and took part in the trial.

He said: “I came off my tablets and had three diet shakes a day and some salad or vegetables but it was very, very difficult and I’m not sure I’d have done it without the support of my wife, who went on a diet alongside me.

“At first the hunger was quite severe and I had to distract myself with something else — walking the dog, playing golf — or doing anything to occupy myself and take my mind off food, but I lost an astounding amount of weight in a short space of time.

“At the end of the trial, I was told my insulin levels were normal and after six years, I no longer needed my diabetes tablets.

“Still today, 18 months on, I don’t take them.”