A recent type 2 diabetes study showed that a solid weight management program can make a considerable difference in controlling the disease. Among the participants in the research, over a third (36 percent) were in remission from their type 2 diabetes after following the program.

The Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial (DiRECT) involved the participation of patients with type 2 diabetes and tracked the success of a National Health Service (NHS) primary care program in Great Britain. The participants underwent a weight loss program and were then tracked for another two years. What the findings showed was that two years after the program, more than one in three participants were still in remission from their type 2 diabetes.

The Type 2 Diabetes Research

This study was led by Newcastle University and University of Glasgow researchers. The findings were announced at the Professional Conference of Diabetes U.K. and were published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal. The study was co-led by professor Roy Taylor and professor Mike Lean.

Taylor and Lean have said that their findings show that there can be a new understanding of type 2 diabetes and that it may no longer need to be considered an “inevitably progressive disease.”

Of course, the findings from this study aren’t alone. They only further support the discoveries of previous studies that have shown that when people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and maintain a healthy body mass over time, they can put their condition in remission.

Prior Study

In December 2017, The International Diabetes Federation was host to the presentation of globally reported findings on a study showing comparable results. In that research, participants with type 2 diabetes lost weight and were followed for another year afterward. By that point, 70 percent were still in remission.

These results show that there is a powerful link between healthy weight and type 2 diabetes. In fact, there was a direct relationship between the amount of weight lost and the likelihood of still being in remission two years later.

In the latest study, 64 percent of the participants who lost a minimum of 22 pounds were still in remission at the close of the study two years later. Many participants did regain some of the weight they’d lost during the length of the 2 years following the weight loss. That said, those who had still been in remission after the first year and who remained in remission were those with the largest average weight loss (an average of 34 pounds) when compared to those who did not stay in remission throughout the second year in the study, whose weight loss was lower (average an average of 26 pounds lost).