THE NHS’ “soups and shakes” slimming diet reverses type 2 diabetes in a third of patients, breakthrough data shows.
The hardcore liquid diet causes rapid weight loss and patients who completed it lost a stone-and-a-half, on average.
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One in three – 32 per cent – lost even more flab and went into remission from type 2 diabetes.
Cases of the illness are on the rise, with around five million Brits diagnosed, and health chiefs want more put on the pioneering diets.
Most patients develop diabetes by becoming too fat and it puts them at extra risk of stroke, heart diseases, cancer and dementia.
It can be hard to control and most patients take long-term medication and never reverse the condition.
We hope to see more people benefit in years to come
Dr Elizabeth Robertson
NHS obesity director Dr Clare Hambling said: “It’s brilliant that these findings show a large number of those who completed the diet have seen life-changing benefits.
“Obesity is one of the biggest threats to health in the UK.
“Seeing such encouraging outcomes from our programme shows it can be tackled head-on.”
The radical soups and shakes diet strips out solid food and limits people to 900 calories for the first three months, to get their weight under control before reintroducing healthy eating.
It has been offered to 25,000 people so far and the new study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, tracked the health of 7,540 between 2020 and 2022.
Dr Elizabeth Robertson, of the charity Diabetes UK, said: “These latest findings add to the real-world evidence that the NHS England programme can help thousands of people.
“We hope to see even more people benefiting in years to come and an increase in referrals.”
Patients are eligible for the diet if they are aged 18 to 65, have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the last six years, and are overweight with a body mass index over 27.
How to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes
According to Diabetes UK, there are a few diet tweaks you can make to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes:
- Choose drinks without added sugar – skip out the sugar in your tea and coffee and stay away from fizzy and energy drinks
- Eat whole grains such as brown rice, wholewheat pasta, wholemeal flour, wholegrain bread and oats instead of refined carbs
- Cut down on red and processed meat like bacon, ham, sausages, pork, beef and lamb
- Eat plenty of fruit and veg – apples, grapes, berries, and green leafy veg such as spinach, kale, watercress, and rocket have been associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes
- Have unsweetened yoghurt and cheese
- Cut down on booze – and have a few days a week with none at all
- Have healthy snacks like unsweetened yoghurt, unsalted nuts, seeds and fruit and veg
- Eat healthy fats included in nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil
- Cut down on salt
- Get your vitamins and minerals from food instead of tablets
