Dr Bobby Huda
Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism

Can you cure type 2 diabetes?

Written by: Dr Bobby Huda

Published: 13/02/2018 | Updated: 29/11/2019

Edited by: Bronwen Griffiths

In the UK, 11.9 million people are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, life-long disease that affects the way your body processes glucose in your blood. Once you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it is important to manage it constantly, using a combination of medication, diet and exercise.

Although diabetes is an illness that has lifelong consequences and has no known cure, it can go into remission, early research results suggest. Dr Bobby Huda and a team of dieticians are now offering a 3 month supervision programme aiming to put type 2 diabetes into remission, following this recent ground-breaking research.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes due to high blood sugar include:

Dry mouth
Headaches
Increased hunger
Increased thirst
Weight gain or unexplained weight loss
Blurred vision
Fatigue
Itching around the genitals
Cuts or wounds heal very slowly
Urinating often

Is it possible to cure type 2 diabetes?

What does diabetes remission mean?

Remission does not mean that diabetes is gone forever, it means that blood glucose levels have returned to a normal level. Even for those who have achieved remission, it is vital that they maintain a healthy lifestyle and receive frequent healthcare check-ups so that indicators of type 2 diabetes returning are caught early on.

How can type 2 diabetes go into remission?

For some people suffering from type 2 diabetes, weight-loss, healthy diet and being active can be enough to regain control over their blood sugar levels. However, for many type 2 diabetes patients, it is also necessary for them to take certain anti-diabetic medicines or insulin.

New research funded by Diabetes UK has findings that currently indicate the possibility of type 2 diabetic patients, reliant on anti-diabetic drugs to achieve remission to a non-diabetic state and off anti-diabetic drugs. The method to which this is being achieved is via intensive weight-loss and management, alongside diet replacement, stepped food reintroduction and physical activity.

Hence, research findings are indicating that with the right lifestyle changes, type 2 diabetes can be reversible, however, we still need further research to fully understand the longer-term impacts on diabetes complications.

If you are at risk of type 2 diabetes, or suffer from type diabetes and would like to find out more about how to deal with it, you can find a specialist here.

By Dr Bobby Huda

Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism in London

Dr Bobby Huda is a renowned consultant endocrinologist in London with over 15 years of experience, and currently works as an NHS consultant at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals, Barts Health NHS Trust. Having completed his medical training at the University of Liverpool, he went on to general and specialist training at the prestigious University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, King's College Hospital, and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London. At the forefront of...

By Dr Bobby Huda
Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism

Dr Bobby Huda is a renowned consultant endocrinologist in London with over 15 years of experience, and currently works as an NHS consultant at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals, Barts Health NHS Trust. Having completed his medical training at the University of Liverpool, he went on to general and specialist training at the prestigious University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, King's College Hospital, and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London.

At the forefront of his field, he takes a particular clinical interest in type 1 and antenatal diabetes and sits on several regional and national committees. He was a Clinical Lecturer at the world famous diabetes centre at King's College Hospital and gained valuable expertise in antenatal diabetes and insulin pump/glucose sensor therapy. Following successful completion of his PhD, he was awarded a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lecturer post in Diabetes & Endocrinology at King's College London from 2011 to 2012, further pursuing research interests in obstructive sleep apnoea and inpatient diabetes. More recent research is centred around Gestational Diabetes and the use of Artifical Intelligence in managing gestational diabetes. He is currently co-applicant on two £2 million grants researching these areas. He has recently co-authored the Royal College of Obsterician & Gynaecologists' guidelines on Alternative testing for Gestational diabetes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Passionate about teaching and research, he currently holds lecturing positions at a number of prestigious establishments including King's College London and Barts and the London Medical School. He has also published over thirty articles in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters.

He has considerable clinical expertise in type 1 diabetes, insulin pump/ glucose sensors, MODY diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy. Specifically he has experience with all current insulin pumps, hybrid closed loop systems and real time Continuous Glucose Monitoring/ Flash glucose monitoring. He leads the Barts Health Genetic Diabetes clinic and has significant experience in assessing and managing atypical/MODY diabetes. He has experience in managing women with gestational diabetes, alternative tests to the Glucose Tolerance Test and significant experience in managing women with type 1, type 2, MODY diabetes during pre-conception, pregnancy and the post-partum period. He leads a multi-disciplinary busy diabetes antenatal clinic and works closely with obstetricans, dieticians and opthalmologists to optimise pregnancy care. He also leads the North-East London Sustainability and Transformation Preconception workstream and works closely with fertiliity services within the NHS and private sectors, to promote optimal glucose control during and after assisted conception. He represents North-East London on the London Diabetes Clinical Network groups for Type 1 diabetes, Inpatient diabetes and Diabetes in Pregnancy and sits within a Expert Reference Group for the National Gestational Diabetes Audit. He has previously sat on NICE committees for Diagnostic Assessments of insulin pump technology.

He also consults on inpatient diabetes, diabetes foot problems, genetic forms of diabetes and type 2 diabetes/ insulin resistance. He is currently not consulting on general endocrinology.

His medico-legal work has spanned both defendant and claimant reports and covers all aspects of diabetes including diagnosis of diabetes, diabetes foot ulcers, Charcot's foot, diabetes preconception/pregnancy and inpatient diabetes.