Diabetes Prevention Week & Obesity Update 2019
It is National Diabetes Prevention Week, supported by Public Health England, running from April 1st to April 7th 2019. The aim of the diabetes campaign is to:
- Raise awareness of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme – with the public and healthcare professionals (specifically GPs, Practice Nurses and Pharmacists)
- Raise awareness of the causes of Type 2 diabetes
- Raise awareness of the complications associated with Type 2 diabetes
- Raise awareness of at risk groups – particularly BME populations
National Diabetes Prevention week is therefore an ideal time to share our pride at being asked to present our Waistaway weight loss data at the 2019 Obesity Update, held at the Royal College of Physicians, London. The Waistaway abstract, titled: “Recognition of the healthcare professional role pharmacy is playing in the management of weight and Type 2 Diabetes” has since been published on the online, open access and fully citable Bioscientifica Endocrine Abstracts website.
Type 2 diabetes is a serious medical condition and largely preventable. As much as 85% of type 2 diabetes cases can be attributed to the carrying of excess weight. It is critical for those people suffering from type 2 diabetes to lose excess weight and as much as possible. Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and eventually leads to escalating numbers of medicines and higher doses to control the blood glucose. Ultimately type 2 diabetes can culminate in the need to inject insulin, blindness and even limb amputations. So what is the hope of the National Diabetes Prevention Week? To engage healthcare professionals and patients and promote the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP)?
Unfortunately the mantra, still adopted in the NDPP, to simply “eat less and exercise more”, for many people, just does not work. The drive to eat is a powerful primitive human characteristic and one that is extremely difficult to suppress in the many weeks or months required to lose significant weight. Adding to this is the requirement, especially if suffering from type 2 diabetes, to manage overall health and medical conditions, including medications. Weight loss using traditional diets is not easy and often doomed to failure before true weight losses are realised.
The data presented to the Obesity Update 2019 demonstrated the excellent weight loss results Waistaway has consistently achieved since 2004. The 1144 people who have used our Waistaway Sure plan and Lipotrim showed a majority losing in excess of 5% of initial weight. Even if you are carrying multiple stone, the Lipotrim programme still gets amazing weight loss results. The Waistaway patients presenting with an intial BMI >40kg/m² lost on average over 16% of their initial weight. The weight losses achieved at Waistaway, at a rate of about a stone a month, are enough to force type 2 diabetes into remission within days of starting to lose weight.
If the aim of the National Diabetes prevention Week is to be realised it should champion the Lipotrim pharmacy programme as one of the best ways a person can lose weight. Lipotrim is ideal for type 2 diabetics. Our programmes are overseen by a qualified healthcare professional, a pharmacist, who has the expertise and availability to manage healthy and safe weight losses whilst managing existing medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Healthy weight loss is essential. Rapid weight loss, using a VLCD such as our Waistaway Sure Lipotrim programme, is critical for those many patients unable to simply cut back on their food consumption, whether they are struggling from lifestyle pressures or even suffering from food addiction.
We were flying the flag for pharmacy at the Obesity Update 2019 and also now in Diabetes Prevention Week.
Please read our abstract now published on the fully citable Endocrine Abstracts website, titled: “Recognition of the healthcare professional role pharmacy is playing in the management of weight and Type 2 Diabetes” . A copy of the abstract can be found below and please also take a look at the abstract poster presented at the Obesity Update 2019:
Background:
The role of weight loss in the management and prevention of type 2 diabetes has grabbed the attention of the media and the NHS, supported by the extremely positive DROPLET trial results. Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCDs) are being recognised as a valuable treatment option for type 2 diabetes, with a qualified healthcare professional closely involved. The NHS has announced plans for a pilot project in 2019 to establish the feasibility of this approach within the NHS structure.
Current Healthcare Experience – Pharmacy.
I have assisted many people with weight management, in pharmacies since 2004. Data from the 1144 people who have used my VLCD option shows 991 people losing 5% or more of their initial weight, with a mean of 11.98% (range 5% to 58%). From the median, half of these dieters lost over 10%. Among this cohort, 80 people had an initial BMI in excess of 40 kg/m2 (40 in excess of BMI 43). The mean weight loss in these 80 dieters was 16.03%. Of the 15 dieters who initially presented with type 2 diabetes, all experienced remission in the early days of their programme, attributed to the recognised rapid weight loss and rapid blood glucose normalisation seen with VLCDs. A significant number of diabetics were unnecessarily excluded by GPs refusing permission to significantly reduce prescribed hypoglycaemics which is essential to prevent hypoglycaemia. Effective weight loss programmes, like mine, are time consuming, with availability and flexibility essential. Surgery staff and GPs are already under extreme pressure, with any imposed limitations likely to dilute diet effectiveness and possibly compromising availability. Hundreds of other pharmacists are already offering VLCDs. Their medical knowledge, flexibility and extended availability is critical to establish effective weight loss and long-term weight management. These are features almost impossible to replicate in a surgery setting.
Conclusion:
Diabetics do not have to wait for the outcome of the NHS trial. Pharmacists are effectively treating weight now. The overall acceptance of pharmacy-led VLCDs by the NHS and general practice, will help a much larger number of diabetic patients and like my pharmacy programme, at no cost to the NHS.
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