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'Watershed' Medical Trial Proves Type 2 Diabetes Can Be Reversed (bbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the low-calorie dept.

dryriver writes: For those suffering from type 2 diabetes, there is good news. Nearly half of the participants in a watershed trial of a new diabetes treatment were able to reverse their affliction. The method is quite simple -- an all liquid diet that causes participants to lose a lot of weight, followed by a carefully controlled diet of real solid foods. Four times a day, a sachet of powder is stirred in water to make a soup or shake. They contain about 200 calories, but also the right balance of nutrients. If the patient can keep away from other foods long enough, there is a chance of reversing type 2 diabetes completely. Prof Roy Taylor, from Newcastle University, told the BBC: "It's a real watershed moment. Before we started this line of work, doctors and specialists regarded type 2 as irreversible. But if we grasp the nettle and get people out of their dangerous state (being overweight), they can get remission of diabetes." However, doctors are not calling this a cure. If the weight goes back on, then the diabetes will return. The trial only looked at people diagnosed with diabetes in the last six years. Doctors believe -- but do not know with absolute certainty yet -- that in people who have had the affliction much longer than that, there may be too much permanent damage to make remission possible. The trial results have been published in the Lancet medical journal.

10 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Big deal by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    call me when type-I can be reversed. My Dad got type 2 because he got fat. Lost some weight and he's fine now. This is something we've known for years. It's fine that it's been proven. Science likes to prove things and that's generally a good thing. But I'd hardly call it watershed.

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  2. I fully expect... by geekmux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...this common sense approach to curing diabetes to be fully debunked by the Medical Industrial Complex. Those profiting from this affliction wouldn't have it any other way.

    That said, I also fully expect people to be lazy enough to not put forth the effort to lose weight to cure their ailments either. The underlying cause and prevalence of diabetes in society still needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, there's no easy cure for I-don't-give-a-fuck disease.

    1. Re:I fully expect... by Aighearach · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is no cure, and there never will be.

      This story is not about a cure, it is about lifestyle-induced remission. It only works as long as the lifestyle changes are in place.

    2. Re:I fully expect... by AlanObject · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is no cure, and there never will be.

      It only works as long as the lifestyle changes are in place.

      What a bizarre objection. I've seen it before and it never ceases to astound me. Consider what you are saying:

      Behavior A produces undesirable outcome X.

      Behavior B produces desirable outcome Y.

      Reverting from Behavior B back to Behavior A produces undesirable X again.

      So therefore Behavior B is "faulty" somehow and not a real remedy for X!

      Has it ever occurred to people making that argument that "Behavior A" basically amounts to eating poison (highly refined carbohydrates) which should never have been followed in the first place? Apparently not.

    3. Re: I fully expect... by c6gunner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ..this common sense approach to curing diabetes to be fully debunked by the Medical Industrial Complex. Those profiting from this affliction wouldn't have it any other way.

      As much as I love watching you conspiracy tards go off on your rants, you may want to stop and consider the fact that the medical community has been telling people for decades to stop getting fat because it causes type 2 diabetes, amongst other health problems.

    4. Re:I fully expect... by TheConway · · Score: 3, Insightful

      so keep the lifestyle change in place. Type 2 diabetes isn't a disease, it's self-harm, intentional or otherwise. It's akin to saying that not holding your head under water is a cure for drowning.

  3. Re:Low Carb diets work just as well and is much ea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My dad was a T2 diabetic on multiple medications. Within a year on a strict low carb diet, his blood sugar was back to normal and he was off all medications (plus lost a lot of excess weight in the process). He's healthier in every way.

    I'm not gonna claim it works for everyone, but the evidence is overwhelming at this point. The established nutritional dogma in the US is simply wrong and it's responsible for a huge number of needless deaths (and increased pharma company profits, funny how that works).

  4. Long known by Doub · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This news is bullshit. I've had type 2 diabetes for at least 10 years, and since the beginning my doctors told me it would be cured if I got back to a normal weight/diet. And I mean it's not rocket science, it's obvious if you think for a second about how type 2 diabetes works: pancreas can only produce so much insulin, eat more carbs than that and it stays in the blood (also having your pancreas strain at 100% all the time and dying out explains why it transforms into type 1 over time).

  5. Re:Low Carb diets work just as well and is much ea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Books and no scientific papers, testimonials and no scientific results, .com address and not a .edu address. Fuck this guy.

  6. Re:Low Carb diets work just as well and is much ea by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is always a war on something... War on fat, war on salt, war on sugar... It's these wars on other things that allowed sugar to increase, because if you take fat and salt out of a product it tastes disgusting - so you add something else, like sugar...

    So now you have products which use lots of sugar sand other chemicals to make up for the lack of salt and fat, once they start taking sugar out they will have to replace it with something else too so who knows what kinds of weird chemicals they will use for that.

    I'd rather just have natural foods, containing a reasonable naturally occurring amount of salt, fat and sugar and then eat sensible quantities of them. We didn't have massive obesity problems 100+ years ago when people ate natural foods and got a bit more exercise.

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