Diabetes type 2 remission may be possible without extreme calorie restriction and lifestyle interventions, according to new research from the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.
Investigators followed more than 870 participants with newly diagnosed diabetes. They compared people who lost 10% or more of their body weight in an “achievable” fashion and those who maintained their baseline weight. The participants who lost weight doubled the odds of achieving type 2 diabetes remission within the first five years of diagnosis.
It’s known that type 2 diabetes remission is possible without medication or surgery. But most remission research has focused on participants in intensive weight loss intervention programs.
The new study sought participants who were more representative of the general population. Those participants then underwent interventions designed to be “more feasible and potentially scalable to the wider population,” wrote corresponding author Hajira Dambha-Miller, Ph.D., of Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues.
The results may help to guide future clinical discussions, Dambha-Miller concluded. “This may provide some rationale for motivating people with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes to lose weight rather than focusing on specific and potentially unachievable weight targets.”
The study was published in the journal Diabetic Medicine.
