British researchers have good news for people with type 2 diabetes -- you don't need to lose a ton of weight to make a difference in your health.
In fact, they found that losing just 10% of your body weight during the first five years you have the disease can lead to remission of type 2 diabetes. That weight loss would be 18 pounds for someone who weighs 180 pounds.
It doesn't matter what diet helps you lose the weight. And it doesn't matter how slow or how quickly those pounds come off, the investigators found.
"Even small amounts of weight loss can help you achieve remission. Extreme dieting and exercising are not necessary," said study author Dr. Hajira Dambha-Miller, a general practice physician and clinical lecturer at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, in the United Kingdom.
"Type 2 diabetes should no longer be seen as a lifelong disease," she added. The disease can essentially be cured if you lose weight and keep it off, according to Dambha-Miller.
The researchers said that type 2 diabetes affects 400 million people around the world. It's typically considered a chronic, progressive disease. But significant weight loss through extreme dieting (less than 700 calories a day) can bring about remission in almost 90% of people with type 2 diabetes, the study authors noted. Weight-loss surgery also tends to bring on remission.
Intensive exercise coupled with a modest weight loss of 7% or less of body weight brought on remission in almost 12% of people in one study, according to the new report.
But maybe bringing on remission didn't need to be so hard, the researchers surmised.
"The existing evidence for achieving remission suggests extreme levels of exercise and rather restrictive diets. This is simply not realistic or achievable for my patients, especially in the longer term," Dambha-Miller said.
"It is also demotivating for my patients when they are unable to achieve large amounts of weight loss. Accordingly, we decided to look at modest weight loss over a longer period in a real-world population without any crazy diet or exercise requirements," she explained.