Long thought to be a chronic, irreversible condition, Type 2 diabetes can in fact be reversed by weight loss, scientists at Newcastle University have found. According to their findings, losing less than a gramme of fat from the pancreas – the main cause of the disease – can restore insulin production, to reverse Type 2 diabetes.

The new study indicates that Type 2 diabetes, a lifestyle disease, is not as chronic as it was thought to be and can be reversed simply through weight loss, even in obese people. The Type 2 diabetes has been linked with serious health problems, including kidney failure, stroke, blindness and even limb amputation. Having risen 59.8 per cent in the past 10 years, it reportedly now accounts for about 90 per cent of all diabetes cases in Britain.

Naveed Sattar, professor of Metabolic Medicine, University of Glasgow, told the Telegraph that it “shows that weight gain is triggering diabetes and that people who lose enough weight can be diabetes free and come off insulin.” “Being lighter also helps people become more physically active, which should also help keep the weight off," he was quoted saying.

“This new research demonstrates that the change in level of fat in the pancreas is related to the presence of Type 2 diabetes in a patient,” according to Professor Roy Taylor of Newcastle University’s Diabetes Research Group, which carried out the research. “The decrease in pancreas fat is not simply related to the weight loss itself. It is not something that might happen to anyone whether or not they had diabetes. It is specific to Type 2.”

“For people with Type 2 diabetes, losing weight allows them to drain excess fat out of the pancreas and allows function to return to normal. So if you ask how much weight you need to lose to make your diabetes go away, the answer is one gram. But that gram needs to be fat from the pancreas,” Taylor was quoted saying.

“What is interesting is that regardless of your present body weight and how you lose weight, the critical factor in reversing your Type 2 diabetes is losing that one gram of fat from the pancreas.”

According to the Daily Express, Dr Alasdair Rankin of Diabetes UK said: “This study suggests an important link between the amount of fat in the pancreas and Type 2 diabetes. It highlights once again the importance of being a healthy weight to reduce your risk, as well as the potential for weight loss – ideally through diet but also, where that fails, through surgery – to reverse Type 2 diabetes.”

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