NHS launches new approach to diabetes battle with four-month low-calorie liquid diet

DIABETICS will be treated with a lowcalorie liquid diet of soups and shakes, under new NHS plans to treat the disease.

NHS managers hope that prescribing the fat-free diet to patients for up to four months will treat the illness, which affects more than 4 million people in the UK. Details of the new treatment plan are due to be set out next month, the Daily Mail reported last night. The plan comes after a major trial found that nearly half of Type 2 diabetics on the low-calorie diet were on remission within a year. The treatment is set to be rolled out nationally after a further NHS trial ends next year.

The new diet, which was first trialed by academics at Glasgow and Newcastle universities and is backed by Diabetes UK, is based on the idea that Type 2 diabetes can be treated successfully if patients are able to lose enough weight. The disease is caused when body fat builds up around the pancreas causing stress to the beta cells in the organ that control blood sugar levels.

They stop producing enough of the hormone insulin, and that causes blood sugar levels to rise out of control. Dieting loses the fat, and then the pancreas works properly again.

On the diet, they would consume between 810 and 850 calories a day.

“The trial involved 300 people, of those in the intervention arm a staggering almost 50 per cent their diabetes went into remission,” Prof Jonathan Valabhji of NHS England said.

“Their blood glucose levels fell into the non-diabetic range That excites us. The beauty of the research is that it was implemented in GP surgeries. It wasn’t hugely expensive.”

Diabetes is estimated to cost the NHS up to £9bn a year and the British Heart Foundation has said that the condition will lead to 400,000 cases of heart disease by 2035.

The liquid diet was tested in a study of 298 adults, and the results were published in the Lancet in December. NHS England is set to run its own trial next year before rolling out the treatment.

Professor Roy Taylor, of Newcastle University, who led the initial study, said: ‘What we can say very clearly is that this method is simple enough and practical enough to achieve remission in about half of all people.”.’

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said: “The nation’s expanding waistlines are placing people at much greater risk of cancers, heart attacks and other killer conditions as well as more cases of Type 2 diabetes.

“Piling on the pounds also means greater costs for taxpayers so as we draw up a long term plan for the NHS, it’s crucial we explore all options.”