You can't blame the BBC for that statement.
The original press release says:
Unusually, Tom's body thinks he is obese because of the high fat levels in his blood, and he has type 2 diabetes;
and Prof Hattersley himself is quoted as saying
"Tom's condition has been a puzzle to us for many years. We could see the symptoms, including the very unusual case of type 2 diabetes in someone with no obvious body fat, but did not know what was causing them
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-of ... 052907.htm
It's an inspiring story though. I should imagine that the exercise helps a huge amount but it must be so difficult when you can't build muscle. The Welcome article also says that he risks breakages from falling because of the lack of cushioning.
I would agree it isn't really T2 but an 'other' type possibly classified as lipoathropic diabetes.
http://dtc.ucsf.edu/types-of-diabetes/d ... ion-table/
People with Lipoatrophy lose fat cells for some reason. Sometimes it's over the whole body, sometimes just part of the body. As I understand it, the insulin resistance occurs because fat isn't stored properly ( eg could be a lack of fat cells) This results in very high levels of trigs in the blood and the fat may also end up being deposited in places where it shouldn't be such as the liver and muscles. This causes insulin resistance.(so in effect the result of the condition is very similar to T2)
This guys condition is obviously very rare if there are only 8 known cases. It's interesting that it isn't inherited. There is a congenital, inherited type of lipoathropic diabetes called Berardinelli-Seip syndrome. (slightly less rare: 1 in 10 million).
In some forms of lipoatrophic diabetes, the insulin resistance can be really extreme and as a result the person can need to take over 1000 units of insulin a day to keep glucose levels out of the stratosphere.
Heres a blog post about a lady who seems to have developed it later in life ( different causes)
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2012/01/ask ... t-tea.html
