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Crash diet has been shown to reverse type 2 diabetes by ‘rebooting’ cells in the pancreas, taking crash diet for a period of four months allowed some people with diabetes to come off their medication and bring their blood sugar back to a normal level. Pancreas malfunction when surrounded by fat, it can also recover after a substantial weight loss.
A study of 298 people led by the universities of Newcastle and Glasgow which found 46 per cent of those on a crash diet reversed their diabetes through replacing food with shakes and soups totalling no more than 800 calories a day. Researchers wanted to know why the regime worked for some and not others, they measured liver and pancreatic fat, along with other metabolic tests.
People who reversed their diabetes could ‘reboot’ their beta cells, however a minority left with diabetes appeared to have cells which had passed the point of no return. Reversibility of type 2 diabetes due to redifferentiation of pancreatic beta cells, will lead to further targeted work to improve understanding of the process.
Participants on the 16-week diet lose 15 per cent of their weight on average. Tests were carried out on 29 ‘responders’ in remission from diabetes and 16 ‘non-responders’ who still had the condition despite their weight loss.
The first group saw their beta cells begin to work properly again, releasing the right amount of the insulin hormone needed to regulate blood sugar. But there was no change in the amount of insulin produced by people for whom the diet did not work, suggesting their beta cells had not survived the stress of being surrounded by fat.
Responders had also lived with Type 2 diabetes for slightly less time, overcoming diabetes comes from reducing internal fat in the pancreas, where the beta cells are found.