Low-calorie diet ‘can reverse Type 2 diabetes for at least two years’

Type 2 diabetes can be reversed for at least two years using a weight management programme, a study has found.

More than a third (36%) of people with the condition who spent up to five months on a strict diet with support from the UK's health service were still in remission 24 months later, the latest results of a UK trial show.

The scientists behind the study said the findings “pull down the curtain on the era of Type 2 diabetes as an inevitably progressive disease”.

Significant weight loss is closely linked with sustaining remission of the condition, they suggest.

Around 300 people in Scotland and Tyneside in the north-east of England with Type 2 diabetes were recruited for the trial, funded by charity Diabetes UK.