The research team, from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON says an aggressive combination of a low-calorie diet, consistent exercise and the addition of several diabetes medications appears to have reversed the disease in some patients.
To test whether the condition can be reversed, researchers first studied 83 patients with Type 2 diabetes.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, an endocrinologist at Hamilton Health Sciences, says the goal of the intensive regimen is to get patients off medication.
After their initial success, the research team has now expanded their study to include some 450 patients in eight Canadian cities, to see how long remission can last, and to determine at what stage in the disease patients respond best.The next phase of their study should be complete in 2018.