In a new study carried out by Chinese researchers, almost half of a group of people who fasted intermittently experienced remission of their Type 2 diabetes.
The research found that people who fasted for five days, then ate a normal diet for 10 days, were much more likely to see their condition go into reverse than individuals who did not fast.
The researchers in China looked at 72 people with Type 2 diabetes, half of whom were for a three-month period put on a regime involving five days of eating about 840 calories a day followed by 10 days of normal food intake. The other 36 participants, who formed a control group, ate normally throughout the three months.
During follow-up analysis three months later, diabetes had gone into remission in 17 of the 36 people (47 per cent) who intermittently fasted. Remission meant that the blood sugar level was below a certain threshold.In contrast, diabetes went into remission for just one of the 36 members of the control group, while their avera weight loss was only 0.27kg.
The benefits of the restricted diet appeared to last, because a year after the experiment ended, diabetes was still in remission for 16 of the 36 people who fasted.
