Low-calorie diet and exercise put diabetes in remission for 60% of patients: Qatar RCT
An intensive lifestyle intervention comprising a low-calorie diet and physical activity led to significant weight loss and diabetes remission in 61% of patients.
The study, funded by the Qatar National Research Fund, also found that the one-year lifestyle intervention improved glycaemia levels in 30% of patients.
Current type 2 diabetes care focus on drugs to control blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure, with the assumption that insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas are irreversibly damaged by the time of diabetes diagnosis.
However, researchers in Qatar proposed that abdominal fat accumulation, which harms insulin-producing cells, may be reversible through weight loss.
