Is 'miracle' cure for diabetes simply healthy eating? Low-calorie diet reverses disorder in just four months, say scientists



Healthy eating plan is 'most effective' way of tackling obesity-linked Type 2 disorder



It could spell the end of long-term medication for sufferers

Type 2 diabetes could be reversed in just four months by simply following a low-calorie diet, a study has revealed.

According to the research, people who reduced their calorific intake in their daily diet experienced a far greater improvement in the condition - and their health in general - than any medication offered.

This means that life-saving insulin would no longer be needed to combat the disorder, cardiac function would improve and dangerous fats building up around patients' hearts would be significantly reduced.

Good, old fashioned healthy eating: As obesity levels soar, so too has the rate of Type 2 diabetes - but a cure could be as simple as a low-calorie diet

As obesity levels soar, type 2 diabetes is fast emerging as one of the biggest priorities for the health profession.

The disorder has seen a worrying rise in the UK, thought to be driven by junk food diets and a lack of exercise.

Dr Sebastiaan Hammer, the study's lead author, told The Express: 'It is striking to see how a relatively simple intervention of a very low-calorie diet effectively cures Type 2 diabetes.

Eradication? The development could spell the end of insulin and other medication

' Moreover, these effects are long term, illustrating the potential of this method.

'Lifestyle interventions may have more powerful beneficial cardiac effects than medication in these patients.'

The research has been hailed as a breakthrough which could revolutionise the treatment of what was thought to be an incurable lifelong condition.

Dr Hammer, from the Department of Radiology at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, added that the results showed significant improvements in patients after just 16 weeks of following a low-calorie diet.

Just last month it was revealed how the number of diabetes sufferers in Britain has risen by 50 per cent in only five years.

Campaigners warned that the increase is being fuelled by the soaring levels of obesity, with some 3million adults and children now living with the condition.

And in the past 12 months alone, there has been an increase of more than 117,000 new cases.



The Diabetes UK charity warned that the NHS is now spending almost a a tenth of its budget - £9billion - every year treating patients.

Some 90 per cent of sufferers have type 2 diabetes, the form which can be caused by being overweight or obese.

The remainder have type 1, which is believed to be genetic.

Scientists believe excess fat upsets the working of insulin – a key hormone which delivers sugar to cells – and this can lead to type 2 diabetes.