Comparing the physiological effects of low-calorie diets in South Asian and White European individuals with early-onset Type 2 Diabetes

140,000 people in England, and >260 million people worldwide are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) before the age of 40-years.

Compared to diagnosis in later-life, early-onset T2D has a more severe course, with faster progression to needing insulin, higher rates of diabetes-complications and a life-expectancy that is shortened by approximately 14-years. Worryingly this age bracket also shows the fastest rise in incidence of T2D.

In 2016, the DiRECT study showed that after following a 12-week low-calorie diet, 46% people with T2D were in remission a year later, meaning that sugar levels were back to normal without needing medications.

This important finding has led to the Path-to-Remission programme, which is available nationally on the NHS to individuals aged 18-65-years who are offered a similar low-calorie diet. However, 99% of those studied in DiRECT were White European, and only 7 out of 298 people in the trial were aged