Sunday, June 7, 2020

Yo, Fat Folks: "Diet and exercise reverses diabetes in 61% of patients, new trial reports"

The only downside is it's published in The Lancet.
(seriously, stick with the BMJ)

From Cornell via New Atlas:
The newly published results of a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of diet and exercise as a front-line type 2 diabetes treatment reveal nearly two-thirds of patients achieved complete disease remission after just 12 months of lifestyle interventions.

It is certainly not a newsflash to suggest a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, and losing excess weight, helps a person manage type 2 diabetes. However, a constant stream of research over recent years has found many individuals diagnosed with the disease can effectively reverse the condition without the need for medication, using just lifestyle interventions.

This new study presents some of the strongest evidence to date affirming the efficacy of diet and exercise in reversing type 2 diabetes. The trial recruited around 150 subjects, all within three years of their initial type 2 diabetes diagnosis, and with an average age of 42.

The cohort was randomly split between a control group receiving standard care, and an intervention group following an intensive diet and exercise program. The intervention program involved an initial 12-week low-calorie diet known as the Cambridge Weight Plan. Following that initial diet the subjects spent another 12 weeks transitioning to a general healthy diet, albeit still with a degree of caloric control. The intervention group was also urged to complete at least 150 minutes of physical exercise every week, alongside a recommendation of walking at least 10,000 steps each day....
....MORE