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Diabetes.co.uk co-founder appears on BBC Business Live

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One in four people who join Diabetes Digital Media's Low Carb Program put their type 2 diabetes into remission, the company's co-founder has told the BBC. Arjun Panesar, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Diabetes Digital Media and co-founder of Diabetes.co.uk, appeared on BBC Business Live to coincide with the launch of Diabetes Awareness Month. Mr Panesar spoke about the Low Carb Program's one-year health outcomes which were published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Internet Research. Speaking live in the studio, he said: "The Low Carb Program is a digital intervention that provides patients with personalised education, support and resources so they can achieve their health goals. "There's around four million people with diabetes in the UK and we’ve got 375,000 people with type 2 diabetes on the platform. Published evidence goes to demonstrate that one in four people place their type 2 diabetes into remission within the first year." When asked whether those who sign up to the 12-week programme continue with it upon completion, he said: "The evidence that we’re providing is going to demonstrate that this is sustainable. Previously, type 2 diabetes was understood to be a chronic and progressive disease, whereas the data we’re providing is going to show that it's not anymore. The majority of people they can put it into remission. "We're seeing a tremendous amount of people with a number of long-term health conditions coming to the platform and so the data we’re collecting is really helping to push the academic envelope and help everyone understand how nutrition or lifestyle medicine can affect metabolic health." During the interview, Mr Panesar explained he had the idea of launching the Diabetes Forum after his grandfather was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes following a heart bypass. "Food and nutrition has always been a concern for people with diabetes and it was exactly the same for my grandfather. He wasn’t sure what to eat either. It was around the same time Twitter and Facebook were coming out to the UK as well, so we launched the world’s first diabetes support forum. "Now, when people search on Google for diabetes information they will find us. Diabetes.co.uk is really just one strand. We provide a number of digital health solutions that are for people with diabetes, that are slightly different to other diabetes sites." The interview is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next 29 days.

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I’m sure there’s plenty on these forums that haven’t done the 12 week program that have gone into remission as a result of the same information. So the figures for whom this site has helped are probably much higher but not as measurable
 
Also, all data gathered is self-reported and therefore may not be entirely accurate.
 
bulkbiker said:
Bit disappointed by the 25% figure though..
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To be fair though, "remission" is likely to have a very specific meaning and will be defined for the purposes of a study. I imagine it will be something like "sustained reduction of glucose levels to non-Diabetic levels". Within the limited definition, 25% of the population will still be good, and I imagine many more probably saw significant improvement in glucose levels and weight loss that can't be reported as "Remission", but is still a great achievement.
 
Remember that with the current standard of care, it is 1‰ of people who put diabetes into remission. Also I expect I would be counted as not doing so, as I have seen no good reason to stop metformin.
 
DJC3 said:
I wonder how many have gone into remission following NHS Eatwell plate advice though? None I suspect.
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To be fair, I think that depends on a number of factors, but there will have been some who have. I would expect those individuals to have still changed their diet quite a bit to reach the Eat Well Plate, maybe have been diagnosed with a marginal or close to diagnostic level A1c, and/or lost quite a bit of weight, doing the Eat Well Plate.

The first time I encountered an NHS specialist diabetes dietician she suggest malt loaf as a suitable snack for T2s. Having recovered from swallowing my tongue, and in the subsequent conversation, she informed me that often she would be meeting with newly diagnosed T2s with very poor eating habits, where having a biscuit was one packet or two, and eating crisps were multipacks or family sized bags. Those are obviously just examples, but in those examples, a slice of malt loaf was an improvement.

I'm with you in the belief that the Eat Well PLate/Guide is less effective in terms of blood sugar reduction for the vast majority of T2s than a reduced carb diet, but I would never say it couldn't work for some.

Like most things in this life, most rules have their exceptions.
 
If I recall correctly from the Newcastle diet study, about 1% of people in the control group got remission. Remember they only included people who were resently diagnosed and excluded anyone on insulin, so in "reallife" it is less then 1%.
 
ringi said:
If I recall correctly from the Newcastle diet study, about 1% of people in the control group got remission. Remember they only included people who were resently diagnosed and excluded anyone on insulin, so in "reallife" it is less then 1%.
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I'd quite like to see the links to that, Ringi, as I can't imagine that further research funding would have been granted on a success rate of 1%.
 
DCUKMod said:
I'd quite like to see the links to that, Ringi, as I can't imagine that further research funding would have been granted on a success rate of 1%.
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That was the rate in the control group (eg current standard of care), the rate for people on the diet was close to 50%.
 
ringi said:
That was the rate in the control group (eg current standard of care), the rate for people on the diet was close to 50%.
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Ah. Thanks for that. You're right, I hadn't picked that up.
 
DCUKMod said:
Ah. Thanks for that. You're right, I hadn't picked that up.
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I have a sneaking suspicion that the 2 or 3 people who achieved that may have found the Low Carb way and just didn't tell Prof Taylor...
 
This study looked at type 2 remission rates: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/37/12/3188

Results: "The 7-year cumulative incidence of partial, complete, or prolonged remission was 1.47% (1.40–1.54%), 0.14% (0.12–0.16%), and 0.007% (0.003–0.020%), respectively."

Conclusion by the authors: "In community settings, remission of type 2 diabetes does occur without bariatric surgery, but it is very rare."
 
bulkbiker said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that the 2 or 3 people who achieved that may have found the Low Carb way and just didn't tell Prof Taylor...
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The study was looking at the effect of the NHS offering the Newcastle diet compared to what they do now. Hence there is no issue with people discovering low carb for themselves messing up the "control" dataset.

They choose to randomise at the GP practices levels to reduce the risk of someone in the control group finding out about the Newcastle diet from a person in the trail, or a member of the practice staff who would not have know about it other then from the trail.
 
Yes but there was a very small percentage in the "control" group who managed to "reverse" their type 2 using "conventional" methods.. may have been meds but I like to think it was a couple of sneaky people who found this forum... I can but dream..
 
Remember someone can go from just over the line into type2 to just outside of type2 by drinking one less full suger coke a day, and the NHS does tell people to reduce drinks with lots of sugar.
 
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