Reversing diabetes

Q: I have just been diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes, and I do not want to take medications if I can avoid it. I’ve heard you say that it can be cured, especially early on. So what should I do now? -- Gini G., Des Moines, Iowa

A: We’ve long advocated lifestyle management of diabetes and have stressed that it’s possible to reverse the disease, effectively curing it, if you’re willing to make and maintain significant changes to your nutrition and activity habits. Not everyone can reverse it completely, but everyone can reduce the toll it takes on the body -- and for everyone, it’s worth trying to beat diabetes through improved everyday choices.

Recent research backs this up. A study from Weill Cornell Medicine-qatar, published in The Lancet, found that for overweight folks ages 18 to 50 who had Type-2 diabetes for three or fewer years, aggressive lifestyle intervention reversed their diagnosis 61% of the time -- in 12 months. Among the control group of study participants who received conventional diabetes care, only 12% achieved reversal.

Participants who saw the reversal followed a calorie-restricted weight-loss plan, shed an average of 26 pounds and aimed to walk 10,000 steps a day, plus get 150 minutes of physical activity a week. A previous study in The Lancet found diabetes was reversed in 86% of participants who, over the course of a year, lost 33 pounds through intensive weight-loss intervention.

Your best bet is to work with your doctor, a physical therapist and a diabetes coach who is a nutritionist. They can help you design a diet that slowly and steadily reduces your weight as you safely increase your physical activity -- both aerobic and strengthtraining.

A tip for people diagnosed with prediabetes: Another new study in JAMA Internal Medicine found losing 4.5 to 6.5 pounds and increasing your activity over two years reduce the risk of developing full-blown Type-2 diabetes by 40% to 47%.