Liquid Low-Calorie Diet Can Reverse Type 2 Diabetes, Study Shows

“This is a radical change in our understanding of Type 2 diabetes,” Roy Taylor, a professor at Newcastle University and the study’s senior author, said: “If we can get across the message that ‘yes, this is a reversible disease – that you will have no more diabetes medications, no more sitting in doctors’ rooms, no more excess health charges’ – that is enormously motivating.”

The British researchers put participants with Type 2 diabetes on an eight-week diet of three low-calorie milkshakes and a half-pound of non-starchy vegetables daily. The participants then returned to normal eating.

 

Six months later, 13 of the study participants who went into remission immediately after the diet were still diabetes-free. Most had diabetes for less than four years, but some had it for more than eight years, according to the study. One participant’s blood sugar levels have remained in the normal range for three years.

 

Taylor said the participants who responded positively to the diet are still in the prediabetes zone and at risk for developing diabetes. “It’s not fair to say they were completely normalized, but they’re at a level of blood sugar where we don’t expect to see the serious complications associated with diabetes,” he said. “That’s why it’s such good news.”

 

Diabetes affects more than 29 million Americans and numbers are growing, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Statistics show that from 1980 through 2014, the number of Americans with diagnosed diabetes has increased fourfold. Most of these have Type 2 diabetes, which can be prevented.

 

Although it is not known exactly why the diet appeared to reverse diabetes, the explanation may be related to how the body stores fat. Excess fat in the liver can spill into the pancreas, inhibiting insulin secretion and the liver’s response to insulin, resulting in insulin resistance and diabetes.

 

Going on a very-low-calorie diet may allow the body to use up fat from the liver, causing fat levels to drop in the pancreas as well. That “wakes up” the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, normalizing blood glucose levels.

 

While some previous studies have shown that blood sugars can normalize after significant weight loss, endocrinologists said they were impressed by the persistence of the lower blood sugar levels for months after the diet.

 

Even short-term remission can reduce serious complications associated with diabetes, including nerve and kidney damage, vision loss, heart attack and stroke.

 

However, it is not known whether people can maintain the weight loss and continue to have this reversal.