What is "diabetes remission/reversal"?At this stage, a definition generally adopted by medical experts around the world is that proposed by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2021.
The reason why the American Diabetes Association ADA proposed such a definition is that a very important theoretical support is the [Diabetes Remission Trial].
To put it simply, this trial selected a group of overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes.
Their disease duration was not long, generally no more than 6 years; and their condition was not serious and they had not yet started insulin treatment. The researchers then asked these diabetic patients to lose weight through strict diet control and increased exercise, hoping to see if these patients could get rid of their dependence on anti-diabetic drugs after losing weight.
As a result, one year after implementing the weight loss plan, the researchers observed exciting test results:
Patients in the intensive weight loss group lost an average of 10kg in weight, and in the end, nearly half (46%) achieved remission of diabetes. Among them, a small group of patients even lost an average weight of more than 15kg, and among this small group of patients, 86% achieved remission of diabetes.
From this, the researchers came to a very important conclusion: obese or overweight patients with type 2 diabetes who have not had a long disease course can achieve diabetes remission through weight loss. The more weight you lose, the greater your chance of remission!
