A 12-month Australian study has found that a digital education and behaviour change program may help people with type 2 diabetes improve their blood glucose control, reduce medication use, and, in some cases, achieve remission.
Published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, the study evaluate the ‘Defeat Diabetes’ program, which provides nutrition education and lifestyle support through a digital platform.
The researchers from La Trobe University found that “78% of participants improved their blood glucose levels and 42% reduced their HbA1c below the diagnostic threshold for diabetes”.
“Participants also reduced their blood pressure, lost an average of 5kg, and reported significant improvements in well-being and confidence in managing their condition,” say the researchers.
“Nearly 1 in 5 participants (18%) achieved remission of type 2 diabetes without glucose-lowering medication, and 1 in 8 participants who were on diabetes medication at the start of the program discontinued all diabetes medication by the end of 12 months.”
Type 2 diabetes is said to affect more than 1.7 million people in Australia, with diagnoses almost tripling over the past two decades.
It’s said to account for more than 2% of Australia’s total disease burden and is also a major contributing factor for heart disease, kidney disease, dementia and amputation.
Dr Ron Schweitzer, a general practitioner specialising in metabolic health and one of the clinicians behind the study, says the findings are a wake-up call.
“The old narrative — that type 2 diabetes is a one-way street toward more medication — simply doesn’t hold up,” he says.
“In my practice, I’ve seen the Defeat Diabetes app help patients achieve real, lasting improvements that outperform medication.
“Many have been able to reduce their prescriptions or stop taking anti-diabetes drugs entirely.”
Dr Schweitzer says the study provides long-overdue clinical support for what many practitioners have already witnessed.
“As the longest and most comprehensive real-world trial of a digitally-delivered low-carbohydrate nutrition program in Australia, it makes a clear case: structured dietary support isn’t an alternative to standard diabetes care — it should be at the heart of it.”
With both prevalence and cost of diabetes expected to rise, Professor Peter Brukner, Sports and Exercise Physician and founder of Defeat Diabetes, says the study highlights a timely need to rethink how type 2 diabetes is managed.
“For too long, millions of Australians with type 2 diabetes have been left without hope,” he says.
“The standard approach has been to diagnose, medicate and monitor the decline. These results say otherwise.
“Nutrition therapy produces outcomes that medication alone rarely achieves, and yet access to this kind of education remains out of reach for most people. That is not acceptable.
“This study shows that, for many Australians, the right nutrition education and care can lead to clinically significant improvements in health outcomes that are sustained in the longer term.
“More than three billion dollars leaves the Australian healthcare system every year because of diabetes.
“We cannot keep ignoring what the evidence is telling us.”
