I heard this on the news yesterday and found it very interesting. Seems it might be something to talk to your doctor about if you are suffering from Type 2 Diabetes.

British docs say they can cure diabetes: How?

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_1...#ixzz1QJdnfl9Z

I read about this yesterday too. There must have been a press release. The very small-scale study was funded by a charity, Diabetes UK. Here's a fuller report from the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13887909

And a background report from the BBC. Only 4 out of the 11 were still free of type 2 diabetes 18 months later.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13907960

Interesting story, indeed! Thanks for posting this article. I was diagnosed with Type 2 DM almost 4 weeks ago. Have been researching everything available to learn about the disease.

The analytical voice inside of me says, "not enough information to reach conclusion." A 2/3 failure rate at 18 months is only slightly better than smoking cessation programs. I wonder what sort of nutrition education and support the participants received. The thought of 600 calories/day for eight weeks makes me weak.

I'm wondering about the success rate too. At 600 calories, there sure would have to be a lot of supplementation. My friend is a well-known Canadian endocrinologist - I must get his opinion.

Which makes it sound like they're being a little fast and loose with the word "cure." Just like it can be controlled by low carb (to the point where you can be med-free), it might be another option? But who'd want to? Ugh.

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in april and would love to try this. Do you think I'd be ok to do it alone? I asked my doc and was less than helpful

zebrastripes!

No, I don't. I think this was a closely monitored study and it's not a good idea for people to fly solo. Have you found the Diabetes support board here? They will have ideas. Another place for advice might be your practice nurse. Some surgeries and hospitals have a diabetes nurse, I think, too.

hmm, interesting approach. I am interested in the kick start for making insulin. But we know that simply losing weight reduces insulin resistance, and some of us make lots of insulin, but resist it. I also think I would need to be off work and in some sort of treatment centre to stick to this.

Right? As does reducing carbs, and at 600 calories a day there's not a lot of room for carbs there.

I think remission would be a better term than cure. If they go back to their old eating habits the D will come back whereas a non-D won't have this problem regardless of what they eat.

Lyposuction and stomach stapling have also been rumored to "cure" the betes, but I'm not running out to get that. Although I would rather have the lyposuction than eat like a starving person...

Well, I suppose that makes sense- eating so little (and so few foods that increase blood sugar) would require your pancreas to make less insulin, perhaps giving it a chance to "catch up." Or, it could simply be that losing weight helps to ease the burden of DB.

However, I don't necessarily agree with this article being so public, because I'm afraid that there will be people out there that see it and want to try it. It's extremely dangerous to have a diet like that, and without proper medical supervision it could be deadly.

@Ruthxxx - please share your doc friend's opinion.. i think we'd all be interested.

I work as an intern health psychologist at diabetes clinics in 2 hospitals, and we discussed this article at our journal club with the dietitians, endocrinologists, etc. I think the conclusion we came to is that its a bit misleading and irresponsible for it to be advertised as a cure, when the sample size is so small and there was such a high "relapse". I think we reckoned that it was more that the diabetes went into remission- which I believe we already knew can happen with weight loss, change in life style etc anyway with Type 2. Its really sad, people came into the clinic for a couple of weeks being really excited that there might be a cure, to find out that actually they've been mislead and we had to tell them that it wasnt the case.

Anyways, sorry for crashing your thread as a non-Diabetic, just thought you might be interested in what they thought. And always consult your doctor before you go about this kinda thing i guess, blah blah blah im not responsible for your health