We have for a long time understood type 2 diabetes as a chronic progressive disease requiring oral hypoglycaemic medications (drugs/ tablets) and eventually insulin. However, in recent times, it has become certain that the process can be halted and reversed with the restoration of normal carbohydrate and fat metabolism.
Diabetes remission can be achieved through weight loss in individuals who are overweight or obese. A diabetic remission point refers to the point where blood sugar levels are stabilized and well below the diabetic range. On reaching remission, new possibilities are open for the individual. In most cases, the individual is able to lead a life independent of diabetic medication.
Losing an estimated 10% of your body weight increases an individual’s chances of entering diabetes remission and is considered to be most effective in newly diagnosed patients. For this reason, making early screening for diabetes a priority where symptoms are suspected is essential in the treatment and management of the disease.
Kenyan’s suffering from Type 2 diabetes could potentially be able to control or even reverse it without resorting to medication or weight loss surgery.
A two-year study led by Roy Taylor, Professor of Medicine and Metabolism at the Newcastle University found that the condition could simply be reversed when patients observe a change in diet and engage in more physical activities.
“It was possible to see that Type 2 diabetes might actually be a simple condition potentially able to be reversed back to normal by weight loss,” says Prof. Taylor.
The detailed study conducted from 2011 showed that patients with diabetes had too much fat inside the liver and pancreas.
Researchers took a group of patients with Type 2 diabetes and put then on a very low calorie diet for 8 weeks resulting in 15 kilograms weight loss and followed them through progression to normal as they observed changes within a two-year period.
Of those patients urged to lose weight, all had completely moved out of diabetes and were no longer relying on diabetes medication.
The study found that if patients lost little weight, ie about five Kilograms or less, the proportion of patients who reported an improvement in signs and symptoms of diabetes was low.
However, with more weight loss of up to 15 kilograms or more the proportion of patients achieving remission/reversal was higher, about seven in ten.
“That is quite remarkable, and there is a bottom-line, for those people who lost more than 10 kilograms, then two-thirds were free of diabetes,” says Prof. Taylor.
Virta Health, a US-based Start-up that seeks to reverse Type 2 diabetes without medication also found in its 2019 study that the condition is not a life-long sentence of disease progression and medication use.
In this study 67% of diabetes-specific prescriptions were discontinued, and patients simultaneously experienced an improvement in blood glucose levels.
Further, 91 per cent of patients who began on insulin were able to reduce or eliminate their dosage.
“On average, patients lost and sustained the loss of 12 per cent of their initial body weight at two years,” says Virta.
This research breakthrough will be a relief to hundreds of thousands of Type2 diabetes patients in the country.
Patients will be able to cut down their dependency on medications and treatment cost burden.
For many Kenyans, high cost of health care has been a key obstacle to accessing treatment.
International Diabetes Federation (IDF) data shows Kenya has a total of 552,400 adult patients with diabetes, a 2.2 per cent prevalence from an adult population of over 25 million.
It’s estimated that type 2 diabetes accounts for 90-95 per cent of reported cases in the country and globally.
Definition of Diabetes remission
The American Diabetes Association has defined diabetes reversal as either partial remission; HbA1c less than 6.5% or fasting blood sugar less than 7mmol/L for more than 1 year. Complete remission; HbA1c less than 6% or fasting blood sugar less than 6.1mmol/L for more than 1 year. Prolonged remission; HbA1c less than 6% or fasting blood sugar less than 6.1mmol/L for more than 5 years.
| Partial | Complete | Prolonged | ||
| Fasting glucose (mmol/L) | Less than: | 7.0 mmol/L | 6.1 mmol/L | 6.1 mmol/L |
| HbA1c (%) | Less than: | 6.5 | 6 | 6 |
| Duration (years) | More than: | 1 | 1 | 5 |