Consuming a low-calorie diet daily for four months could help reverse type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.
The research found that people who limit their diet to just 500 calories a day experienced a far greater improvement in the condition - and their health in general - than any medication offered for the metabolic disease.
They no longer required life-saving insulin to combat the disorder, the level of dangerous fat around their hearts was considerably reduced and their cardiac function improved. The 500 diabetic patients analysed also experienced a drop in body mass index (BMI) over a four-month period.
Lead researcher Dr Sebastiaan Hammer, from the Department of Radiology at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, said: "It is striking to see how a relatively simple intervention of a very low-calorie diet effectively cures Type 2 diabetes."
"Our results show that 16 weeks of caloric restriction improved heart function in these patients. More importantly, despite regain of weight, these beneficial cardiovascular effects were persistent over the long term."
"Lifestyle interventions may have more powerful beneficial cardiac effects than medication in these patients," he added.
The study has been hailed as a breakthrough which could revolutionise the treatment of the lifelong condition, which is caused by the pancreas not producing enough insulin to break down glucose in the blood.
Calorie Restriction May Cure Type 2 Diabetes
Wed, 30 Nov 2011
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