People with prediabetes who were able to reduce body weight by at least 5% during a lifestyle intervention over 12 months were studied. A comparison was made between people who were able to normalize their blood glucose (responders) and those who continued to have elevated blood glucose levels (non-responders). Weight loss in both groups was comparable, as was the reduction in liver fat. However, the reduction in visceral fat depot and increase in insulin sensitivity was significantly more pronounced in responders.
People with prediabetes who were able to reduce body weight by at least 5% during a lifestyle intervention over 12 months were studied. A comparison was made between people who were able to normalize their blood glucose (responders) and those who continued to have elevated blood glucose levels (non-responders). Weight loss in both groups was comparable, as was the reduction in liver fat. However, the reduction in visceral fat depot and increase in insulin sensitivity was significantly more pronounced in responders. People with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of kidney disease, heart attack or stroke and are exposed to higher mortality. Until a few years ago, type 2 diabetes was considered an irreversible disease. It is now known that type 2 diabetes can be brought into a state of remission in a proportion of sufferers by severe weight reduction, but this rarely lasts: most patients develop type 2 diabetes again after five years. "We have therefore set ourselves the goal of starting earlier and investigating whether it is possible to take preventive action at the preliminary stage of type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and reverse it," explains senior author Andreas Birkenfeld, Medical Director of Medical Clinic IV of the University Hospital Tübingen and Head of the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of Helmholtz Munich at the University of Tübingen. This would be of great importance for patients with prediabetes, as they have an increased risk of complications of the heart, kidneys and eyes. But which mechanisms lead to remission in prediabetes?
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