Fighting diabetes: Nestlé’s new weight management program to be piloted in Tesco

27 Jun 2019 --- Nestlé Health Science (Nestlé) is piloting OptiJourney, a weight management program for Type 2 diabetics and prediabetics, in six English Tesco stores. The program involves an intake of just 800-850 total calories a day, to be consumed in the sole form of Optifast shakes, bars and soups for 8-12 weeks. OptiJourney is based on a DiRECT study which found that a quarter of participants on a similarly low-calorie diet maintained a weight loss of over 10kg and a third of participants achieved remission from Type 2 diabetes after two years.

Tesco pharmacists will screen, enroll and monitor each participant, and prediabetics with a hemoglobin A1C level between 42-48mmol/mol are also able to join. Participants will use a mobile application to access education and behavior change and coaching support throughout the program. Not everyone partaking in the program will be able to achieve remission, but weight loss for people with Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes has other recognized health benefits, according to Nestlé.

“OptiJourney is built on the foundation of clinical trial data and personal support via a user-friendly app, and we believe it can be truly transformational. Business really can be a force for good and can help change lives for good,” says Nigel Bathurst, Business Executive Officer of Nestlé Health Science.The program involves an intake of just 800-850 total calories a day, to be consumed in the sole form of Optifast shakes, bars and soups for 8-12 weeks.

Following the total diet replacement phase, there is a four-week reintroduction of food and step-wise reduction of Optifast products. The final stage is weight maintenance. The OptiJourney starter pack costs £50 (US$63) and comes with food for the first three days. After that, the diet replacement foods will need to be bought at the price of £8.80 (US$11) a day.

The DiRECT study which inspired OptiJourney was carried out across 49 doctor offices across North East England and Scotland. Half the offices were randomly assigned to use a weight management program (which was similar but not identical to OptiJourney) and the control half used standard best care. After a year, 46 percent of the participants in the weight management group were in remission, compared to 4 percent of the control group.

Additionally, the weight management group had a better quality of life and a reduced need for diabetes medication when compared to the control group. However, access to behavioral support from health professionals was crucial to a successful outcome.

The research behind the disease
According to Nestlé, approximately seven million people in the UK have elevated blood glucose levels, meaning that they are prediabetic and have an elevated chance of developing Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes occurs if the body is not able to produce enough insulin, or if it develops a resistance to the insulin it does produce, leading to a build-up of glucose in the blood.

In 80 percent of Type 2 diabetes cases, a delay or avoidance would be possible through lifestyle changes, including weight loss. Additionally, over 3.2 million British people have Type 2 diabetes and the disease takes up around 10 percent of the NHS (National Health Service) budget, with an annual cost of £10 billion ($US12.7 billion). Mismanagement of the disease can lead to serious conditions affecting the heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys.

Furthermore Type 2 diabetes is a global concern, with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) recently calling for a personalized approach in medical nutrition in order to treat diabetic adults. Additionally, the organization spoke of the need for the industry to reduce sugar content, limit the use of sweetener and promote whole foods.

The role of nutrition to curb the spread of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes is significant. According to researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, fatty fish would reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes if they did not have high levels of environmental pollutants. 

NutritionInsight has contacted Nestlé for further comment.

By Katherine Durrell