Sceptical about diabetes cure

Scientists from a British University say an extreme low-calorie diet could hold the key to curing type 2 diabetes. However, diabetes experts in Australia remain sceptical, stating while the disease is “treatable”, they believe it cannot be “completely” cured.

The scientists from Britain’s Newcastle University conducted a two-month study which they say overturns previous assumptions that diabetes is a life-long illness.

Type 2, or adult onset diabetes, is a disease caused by too much glucose in the blood. It can cause blindness and result in sufferers having to undergo amputations. In many cases those afflicted die younger.

A study conducted by the UK scientists found a radical low-calorie diet could be a way to cure diabetes.

The study involved 11 type 2 diabetes sufferers cutting their food intake to just 600 calories a day for two months. Three months after the end of that period, seven of the 11 subjects were free of diabetes.

The researchers say it proves the disease can be beaten. But Australian diabetes experts remain pessimistic.

Dietitians Association of Australia spokesman, Dr Alan Barclay, says because diabetes is a “metabolic disease”, it will most likely come back again if a person reverts back to their old lifestyle habits.

“The successful result of the study in ‘curing’ diabetes is due to the rapid weight loss and then the sustained weight loss that they’ve achieved through going back onto a healthy diet. If the people put the weight back on again, their diabetes will come back again, it’s as simple as that,” Dr Barclay says.

“So it’s a remission of the symptoms, which is great and certainly should be encouraged, but because diabetes is a metabolic disease, it’s not something you catch, it will come back again if you go back to your old lifestyle habits,” he continues.

Chief executive officer of Diabetes Australia, Lewis Kaplan, says both lifestyle and genetic factors play a role.

“It’s actually a very complex disease and it’s increasingly understood that there are genetic predispositions. So you’re much more likely to get type 2 diabetes if you have a close family member who has type 2,” Mr Kaplan says.

“But lifestyle, that is basically overweight, obesity and lack of exercise, contribute to the development of diabetes.”

Mr Kaplan insists diabetes sufferers should seek medical advice before undertaking any type of diet.

The hard facts:

• The number of diabetics registered with Diabetes Australia is about 850,000, and this number is expected to grow by 275 people per day.
• There are about 750,000 people who have diabetes but do not yet know it.
• Aboriginal people and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds are especially at risk.