Low calorie diet can reverse Type 2 diabetes: study

NEWCASTLE, England: While excess calories lead to a fatty liver and thus too much glucose, losing less than one gram of fat from the pancreas can re-start insulin production, reversing type 2 diabetes, a new study conducted by Newcastle University says.

Going on a low-calorie diet, which includes consuming just 600 calories a day for eight weeks, could reverse the type 2 diabetes, the study further claims.

Professor Roy Taylor, the lead author of the study, said that the reversal of diabetes remains possible for at least ten years after the beginning of the condition.

Such a  helps bring about 15kg of weight loss on average. Weight loss has long been known to help reverse the condition.

According to the study, results showed within just a week of starting the diet. It caused a profound fall in insulin sensitivity.

Fasting blood sugar levels, of which diabetes patients have significantly higher, became normal within the same time frame.

Often thought of as harmless, type 2 diabetes is a hidden killer and can lead to heart failure, blindness, kidney disease and leg amputations.