We have shown that type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to be a lifelong progressive disease. Where to from here?
Up until recently, people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were made to believe there was little they could do about it. That was just not true. The call for change has been led by Aboriginal communities throughout New South Wales. From Bourke to Walgett, Brewarrina to Coonamble, Aboriginal medical services running my program, Too Deadly For Diabetes, have been getting better results than many programs through the major capital cities. If you were to believe the experts, Aboriginal people could not turn this disease around and especially not in regional and remote communities. But they were wrong!
Go into any of these communities and you will hear stories of success, from large losses in weight to getting off medications for type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. These communities have shown the experts how it’s done.
Coonamble has a population of 2,700 people, yet in 12 months the patients at the Coonamble Aboriginal Medical service have lost a total of 1,486kg, at an average of 7kg-10kg for each participant. Losing weight is important for people with type 2 diabetes because the rising blood sugars are caused by the storage of fat around the liver and pancreas. Lose that and your blood sugars improve.
Aboriginal people are now taking control of their health, achieving results the big clinics in the cities could only dream of.
Last month the documentary titled Australia’s Health Revolution I cohosted with Dr Michael Mosley was launched. It is a three-part series where we discuss the research around reversal of type 2 diabetes, and I put eight Australians through an eight-week program to turn their type 2 diabetes around. In the second episode, which was filmed in December, we asked Diabetes Australia to acknowledge that type 2 diabetes could be placed into remission under certain circumstances.
Hours before the first episode went to air, Diabetes Australia released a position statement reporting just that. This was a big change.
The regional and remote communities had shown what was possible, but could we replicate it on television? Lucky for us we could! Robert got taken off insulin in a week. Charlie got taken off all diabetes and high blood pressure medications in 12 days, achieving full remission of type 2 diabetes. Rita achieved remission of type 2 diabetes, and Ilana and Marian no longer had pre-diabetes. All others saw significant reductions in blood sugars in just eight weeks. I’m happy to report that 12 months on they are still going well.
So, type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to be a lifelong progressive disease. It’s been proven by scientific research, proven by regional and remote communities, and now acknowledged by Diabetes Australia.
But where to from here?
There needs to be a new standard set on outcomes.
It’s no longer a case of whether type 2 diabetes can be reversed, it’s now accepted to be true for some patients.
So, any health service that is providing a diabetes program and not seeing a reduction or removal of medication in some of their patients must now evaluate their programs and work toward the outcomes that research shows is possible.
Funding bodies need to set a new standard on funding. If a program is not able to show that they can reduce medications in some patients, along with a reduction in HbA1c, they must redirect funding to a program that works better. This will give healthcare providers the motivation to achieve these results.
We need to have a good look at what we have been doing and focus on what works. We already have a proven program that is supported by independent research and achieves the results international studies have shown are possible.
With the right funding, “Too Deadly for Diabetes” could be in every Aboriginal medical service within weeks. It was designed to be provided in medical centres. We train the staff and they guide the patients through. Patients have access to recipes and exercise through an app, website, or through printed material. It’s financially viable too, with visits over the 12 weeks bringing in over $700 in Medicare rebates for the medical centre.
The time for talk is over.
• Ray Kelly is a Kamilaroi man with more than 30 years experience in the health industry. He is currently completing a PhD investigating the reversal of type 2 diabetes in Indigenous communities and is involved in nationwide research targeting better outcomes for those with type 2 diabetes. He recently co-hosted Australia’s Health Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley on SBS