Four-year study looks into diet and diabetes
Douglas Twenefour, a clinical adviser at Diabetes UK, said a new £2.4M research project at Newcastle University and the University of Glasgow, funded by Diabetes UK, would help medical experts gain new understanding about the disease.
Scientists will study the effects an 800-calorie-a-day diet consumed for between eight and 20 weeks would have on 140 people with Type 2 diabetes.
Permanently change lifestyle
Participants would consume calories in the form of a ‘nutritionally-complete’ formula shake, before being taught how to eat healthily, to permanently change their lifestyle.
“The research is on the back of earlier research done in 2011, where 11 people were given a low-calorie diet to see the effect on blood glucose levels,” said Twenefour.
He said the research in 2011 showed that a low-calorie diet reversed Type 2 diabetes, putting sufferers in ‘remission’.
“We are now trying to answer how long people can be in remission for, so the study will be running until 2018. We are still in new territory though,” he added.
