Michael Mosley’s diet worked better than diabetes drugs in a new study

A diet created by Dr. Michael Mosley has been found to be better at controlling type 2 diabetes symptoms than drugs for some patients, according to a new study. Dr Mosley, who tragically died while on holiday in Greece this summer, created the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet.

The 5:2 diet is a form of intermittent fasting where you eat normally for five days a week and restrict your caloric intake to around 500-600 calories on the remaining two days. A new clinical trial in overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes found that the diet can improve blood glucose levels and accelerate weight loss.

It has been shown to be more effective than common diabetes medications. The study at Beijing Hospital in China involved more than 400 patients.

Some took the drugs metformin or empagliflozin, and others used the 5:2 diet. Those in the 5:2 group had better blood glucose levels at 16 weeks compared to those on medication. They also lost more weight – an average of 9.7 kg (21 lbs 6 oz), which was almost twice as much as for those taking medication.

Naveed Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, told MailOnline: ‘Being overweight is the key driver of diabetes and therefore losing weight significantly improves glucose levels. The question is whether such changes and 5:2 diets are sustainable, particularly as the trial was quite short…with greater than expected weight loss in all three arms.”

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