Reversing type 2 diabetes is much harder than clinical trials suggest
People with type 2 diabetes who take part in clinical trials may benefit from professional weight loss advice, regular monitoring and moral support, which can be lacking outside of research settings
By Christa Lesté-Lasserre
23 January 2024
Insulin injections can help to keep type 2 diabetes under control
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People with type 2 diabetes who lose weight while taking part in clinical trials appear to be substantially more likely to reverse their condition than those who lose weight outside of such studies.
Treatments such as insulin injections can help people with type 2 diabetes maintain healthy blood sugar levels. However, those who are overweight or obese can sometimes reverse their condition if they lose weight.
In reality, fewer than 10 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes who lose weight outside of such trials actually do this, even when followed over several years, says Hongjiang Wu at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In trials, that figure can get close to 90 per cent.
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Such a discrepancy may be due to the support and various interventions that often come with taking part in clinical trials, as well as definitions of what it means to reverse type 2 diabetes sometimes varying, he says.
To better understand this, Wu and his colleagues studied more than 37,000 people in Hong Kong – roughly half of them women – aged 18 to 75, who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 2000 and 2017.
