Energy balance
An intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) involving caloric restriction and increased physical activity is associated with partial or complete remission of type 2 diabetes in overweight adults, particularly those with shorter disease duration, lower baseline HbA1c, and no insulin use.
If you have type 2 diabetes, especially if it was diagnosed recently and you are not yet on insulin, an intensive lifestyle program focusing on significant weight loss (1200-1800 calories/day) and regular exercise (175 minutes/week) can potentially put your diabetes into remission. This means your blood sugar levels may return to normal without medication. However, this requires sustained effort, and success is most likely if you act early in the disease process.
Our findings suggest that an intensive lifestyle intervention may be associated with a partial diabetes remission in a subset of patients with type 2 diabetes, particularly those whose diabetes is of short duration, who have lower HbA1c levels, and who do not yet require insulin therapy.
Why this rating
Large randomized controlled trial (n=4503) with 4-year follow-up, though exploratory nature and lack of beta-cell function assessment limit mechanistic certainty.
Source
Association of an Intensive Lifestyle Intervention With Remission of Type 2 Diabetes
Edward W. Gregg et al. · JAMA · 2012
DOI 10.1001/jama.2012.67929
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