Britain’s NHS to fight diabetes with very low-calorie liquid diet

As rates of type 2 diabetes soar, and the disease affects younger and younger patients, British doctors will begin a staged rollout of a trial prescribing a liquid diet of four daily servings of “fat-free shakes and soup.” The prescribed drinks, intended to be the only food consumed, will provide patients with just over 800 calories per day. Participants will follow the liquid diet for up to 5 months, and then carefully transition back to real food.
This approach showed promise in the DiRECT trial, published in The Lancet last December. DiRECT was a well-designed trial, randomized by physician practice, and showed 46% of patients treated maintained remission from diabetes at 1 year, versus just 4% of control patients receiving the standard of care.
It is terrific to see physicians and health systems treating type 2 diabetes as a reversible condition rather than a progressive, chronic disease. However, remission with this approach is highly dependent on maintaining weight loss. Over the long term, maintaining weight loss by restricting calories has a very poor track record. And just about nobody wants to be on a liquid diet for life.
We believe restricting carbohydrates rather than calories is a more promising method for diabetes reversal. (This trial showed 60% reversal at one year.) It’s more sustainable and yummier, too!
The Daily Mail: Radical NHS plan to tackle Britain’s diabetes ‘epidemic’
Earlier
How to reverse type 2 diabetes
1-year results of the Virta Health keto study
How Tom Watson reversed his type 2 diabetes
New study: even a liberal 130 g/day low-carb diet beats calorie restriction for type 2 diabetes
However, to maintain the result longterm the patients need to be educated on good nutrition and exercise together with longterm follow up. Knowing the NHS, they will either skip education and follow up completely, or send the patients to a dietitian that has to follow the standard guidelines of whole grain "healthy" carbs, thus undoing the benefits of the short term intervention.
Plus, the food environment in Britain is one of the most toxic ones I have come across (deep fried Mars bars anyone?). As long as this does not change and a white bread sandwich followed by a bag of potato chips is considered a good lunch (this is also handed out to hospital patients who missed a regular meal), Britain will continue to see a rise in obesity and diabetes.
Fat 3.5 g
Net carbs 15 g
Protein 16 g
You have to take 4 servings each day : Carbs 60 g + carbs from 2 plates of vegetables +20g
total carbs 80 g
Sample of Ingredients (chocolate Shake mix)
Chocolate Shake Mix Ingredients: Maltodextrin, Milk Protein Concentrate, Soy Protein Isolate, Calcium Caseinate, Isomaltulose, Canola Oil, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Gum Acacia, Fructooligosaccharides, And Less Than 2% Of Inulin (From Chicory), Potassium Chloride, Potassium Phosphate, Salt, Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Sodium Caseinate, Soy Lecithin, Mono And Diglycerides, Choline Bitartrate, Ascorbic Acid, Stevia Leaf Extract (Sweetener), DL-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Ferrous Sulfate, Sucralose, Corn Starch, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin K1, Vitamin D3, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Copper Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Molybdate, Biotin, Vitamin B12
Contains: Milk and Soy ingredients
Conclusions : a lot of artificial components, no natural food !
of course anyone will lose weight with only600 calories a day but they will be constantly hungry