Diabetes patients will be put on low calorie diet to beat disease

DIABETES patients are to be prescribed a “very low calorie diet” in a new action plan to battle the disease, NHS England announced yesterday.

The Diabetes Prevention Programme will see patients put on a diet of just over 800 calories a day for three months.

The proposal follows a smaller trial that put people recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in remission after losing a kilogramme more than expected on average.

The DPP will now treat about 200,000 people a year, including those suffering from and at risk of Type 2.

The action forms part of the NHS’s long-term diabetes plan, which will increase focus on prevention as well as a cure.

The DPP helps patients achieve a healthy weight, improve their overall nutrition levels and increase physical activity.

It follows the smaller Diabetes UK-funded DiRECT trial, in which 86 per cent of participants put their Type 2 diabetes into remission.

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “The first-year results of the Diabetes UK DiRECT study showed that, for some people with Type 2 diabetes, an intensive, low-calorie weight loss programme delivered with ongoing support through primary care could put their condition into remission.

“While this groundbreaking study continues to explore how long-lasting these benefits are, we are delighted that NHS England has been inspired by this work to pilot a Type 2 remission programme through the National Health Service.”

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “The NHS is now going to be ramping up practical action to help hundreds of thousands of people to avoid obesity-induced heart attacks, strokes, cancers and Type 2 diabetes.”