Diabetes affects roughly 30 million Americans but patients might be able to rely on a new diet to fight back against this metabolic disease.


At any given moment in the U.S., about 50% of Americans are on some kind of diet. Many of those diets, however, rarely work, but dieters have more to work for now if they can potentially reverse their health conditions.


A new study published in The Lancet featured 298 participants and compared patients who were prescribed a radical, calorie-restricted diet with those who received conventional care and drug treatment.


According to Forbes, the study found that individuals in the drastic dieting group were taken off any anti-diabetic medical and given four liquid meals a day containing just over 800 calories. Roughly half of those patients achieved remission from their diabetes during the experiment, compared to only 4% of those who didn’t participate in the diet.


“When the doctors told me that my pancreas was working again, it felt fantastic, absolutely amazing,” said study participant Isobel Murray, 65, from North Ayrshire, who lost more than 48 pounds and no longer needs any diabetes medication. “I don’t think of myself as a diabetic any more. I get all my diabetes checks done, but I don’t feel like a diabetic.”


The Scotsman added that 300 people in Scotland took place in the Diabetes Remission Clinical Trial, again showing that of those patients with type 2 diabetes went into remission after 12 months of using the intensive new low calorie diet — with no medication.


“This builds on the work into the underlying cause of the condition, so that we can target management effectively,” said lead researcher from Newcastle University, professor Roy Taylor. He added that this very exciting study could “revolutionize the way type 2 diabetes is treated.”