FED: Weight loss puts diabetes into remission

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2003
FED: Weight loss puts diabetes into remission

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By Judy Skatssoon, National Medical Writer

SYDNEY, Dec 3 AAP - More than half the people with adult diabetes could reverse the
condition by losing weight, according to the head of a new clinic that replaces medication
with an intensive weight loss program.

More than one million Australians have diabetes, according to Diabetes Australia.

Type 2, or adult onset diabetes, is the most common form, affecting 90 per cent of sufferers.

People with type 2 diabetes are traditionally put on medication including a daily tablet
to help the body use or release insulin and, in severe cases, up to four insulin injections
a day.

But Dr Nic Kormas, who heads the new metabolic rehabilitation clinic at Concord Repatriation
General Hospital in Sydney, said previously obese people who were diagnosed with diabetes
could put the condition into remission for up to 20 years if they lost 15-20 per cent
of their body fat.

Even a five per cent weight loss could significantly reduce the severity of their diabetes
and lead to a reduction in medication.

Around 60 per cent of type 2 diabetes is obesity-related.

"If they were obese when they were diagnosed and they lose weight the diabetes goes
into remission," Dr Kormas said.

"If they lose the weight they lose the diabetes."

To achieve this, the clinic provides patients referred to them by a GP with a personal
trainer, who designs and oversees a regular weekly exercise program and prescribes additional
exercise in their free time.

Once enrolled, patients are locked into a compulsory six-month program involving at
least one hour and 40 minutes of supervised exercise - including aerobics, flexibility
and weights - three days a week.

The clinic, which began operating two weeks ago, currently has around 20 patients enrolled
and can accommodate a maximum of 45.

It is the only clinic of its kind in Australia and Dr Kormas believes it offers the
most intensive program of its kind in the world.

Dr Kormas said his goal was to see a similar clinic at every hospital in Australia.

"The best way to reduce the incidence of diabetes it to avoid obesity or lose weight," he said.

Dr Kormas said the philosophy of the clinic was backed by US and European studies showing
150 minutes of exercise a week could prevent type 2 diabetes and recommending it be implemented
in the health care system.

According to a Finnish study published in the latest Diabetes Care journal, exercise
programs and lifestyle intervention over three years caused a 58 per cent reduction in
the progression to diabetes in people with the pre-diabetic state known as impaired glucose
tolerance.

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KEYWORD: DIABETES (PIX AVAILABLE) (REISSUE)

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