Can intermittent fasting and weight loss lead to diabetes remission?

In fact, nearly 90% of participants reduced their intake of diabetes medications, and medication costs were 77.2% lower than controls.

“antidiabetic drug It is costly and presents a barrier to many patients trying to effectively manage their disease. Our study found that after intermittent fasting, a diabetic’s medication costs were reduced by 77%,” said one of the study’s authors at Hunan Agricultural University in China. ‘s Dongbo Liu said in a release.

Ryu added:type 2 diabetes It is not necessarily a lifelong illness. Diabetes can be put into remission if patients change their diet and exercise habits to lose weight. “

At 3-month follow-up, 47.2% of patients on the intermittent fasting diet achieved remission compared to 2.8% in the control group. The study found that people who followed the intermittent fasting diet lost 5.93 kg of weight compared to 0.27 kg in the control group.

“Weight loss is key when it comes to diabetes remission, whether achieved through a calorie-restricted diet, intermittent fasting, or with the help of medication. It was the first study to establish a ..it showed that nearly 80% of people went into remission with significant weight loss,” said Dr. Anoop Misra, president of Fortis CDOC Hospital for Diabetes and Allied Sciences. “We are seeing 100% remission with bariatric surgery,” he added.

Dr. Misra said the only problem with the current study is the limited number of participants and short follow-up period. It was conducted in 36 participants aged 38 to 72 years with a history of Participants were followed for 1 year after 3 months of intervention.

It is good for obese people to lose weight and achieve diabetes remission, but not for lean people who get sick.

“We still don’t fully understand why thin people get this disease, but we hesitate to recommend weight loss because it can lead to nutritional deficiencies,” he said. rice field.

How many such lean patients does he see? “It can vary depending on geography and socioeconomic conditions. For example, in Delhi about 10% of new diabetics become lean. In poor or rural settings, it can be up to 30%.Odisha and Bangladesh have higher proportions of lean patients, and there are no studies yet showing remission in such patients,” says Misra. said Dr.

How long will the remission last? Remission is defined as controlled blood glucose (mean blood glucose (HbA1C) <6.5%) 3 months after drug discontinuation. “It is not clear how many people or patients reverted to diabetes after remission, but in a study that followed such patients for two years, nearly 20-30% became diabetic again. Adequate exercise and diet. Maintaining weight loss according to a plan can help reduce the risk of getting diabetes again," Dr. Misra said, adding that obese people should try to go into remission. Even fewer people may go into remission.”