IIt’s been 10 years since Professor Roy Taylor revolutionized the treatment of type 2 diabetes with a groundbreaking study that showed the disease can be reversed through rapid weight loss. Until his research was published, it was believed that type 2 diabetes was an incurable, lifelong condition. For many people, we know this is not the case.
But his accomplishments – and the thousands of people he has healed – are nothing to think about. “I’m in a very fortunate position to be able to do this research,” he says, “which really extends my work as a doctor throughout my life.” He laughs at the suggestion that he occasionally has to marvel at his own success: “No, no,” he chuckles. “Many professions make a useful contribution to society. I wouldn’t stand out from others. “
Humble words for a man whose “useful contribution to society” has given hope to the 3.9 million people diagnosed with disease in the UK and who has shown doctors a new way to tackle a disease that involves 185 amputations each week and caused 700 premature deaths.
Now he wants to go one step further and share everything he has learned directly with the public in a new book, Your Simple Guide to Reversing Type 2 Diabetes. It’s a 153-page paperback that takes you through the latest research into disease development and explains why rapid weight loss can be so effective in reversing the condition in the early stages – which is usually within the first six years of diagnosis.
“If people really want to make it, it is almost universal in the early years of diagnosis for their health to return to normal,” says Taylor, professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University. In one study, he found that nine out of ten people with “early” type 2 diabetes were cured after losing more than 2½st (15 kg).
The book also explains who is most at risk and why some people with a “normal” body mass index (BMI) will develop the disease when many people who are more overweight or even obese do not.
Taylor’s “Newcastle” weight loss program is a clinically proven method of reversing early type 2 diabetes. Its approach is currently being expanded by the NHS to include people with this condition. The point is to reduce your caloric intake to 700-800 calories a day. In the book, he explains how the people on his program did this – usually by consuming only slimming shakes and non-starchy vegetables, and a cup of tea or coffee a day with skimmed milk – and lost a life-changing amount in just eight weeks in the process . And how to safely do the same at home.
It is almost universal that health can be returned to normal
In other words, it is a book that has all the hallmarks to become a massive bestseller. But Taylor himself won’t make a penny out of it. He’s donating 100% of his proceeds from the book to the Diabetes UK charity, which “makes sense,” he tells me, because they funded his original 2011 study. “That was seen from them so far,” he says. “They supported research that I know the experts thought was outlandish.” He said only one person at the research committee meeting voted for his proposal and convinced the others by saying, “It may sound crazy, but if he’s right, it really matters.”
Taylor decided to write the book because although most diabetes experts in the UK have now accepted that his rapid weight loss program works, many doctors in Europe and the US are still unconvinced. “It is not easy to accept new ideas in medicine. So it will be a while before this is textbooked and taught to generations of doctors. “
In the meantime, he believes it is his job – even his “duty” – to make people aware of the discoveries he and others have made in recent years. “I feel responsible for passing this knowledge on.”
One of Taylor’s most important new discoveries is that everyone has their own fat threshold: an individual tolerance for fat levels in the body. “It’s a personal matter. It has nothing to do with the type of information that is commonly provided about obesity, average BMI, and population activity. The bottom line is that a person develops type 2 diabetes when it becomes too heavy for their own body. It doesn’t matter whether your BMI is in the “normal” range. You have exceeded your personal threshold and have become unhealthy. “
He is currently doing research to see if there is a way to do a blood test to find out when people are entering this dangerous area and their fat cells are giving out what he calls “distress signals.”
What we already know is that when fat can no longer be safely stored under the skin and it gets to the liver and then the pancreas, our bodies have trouble controlling blood sugar. When these organs become clogged with fat, they stop working properly and then you develop type 2 diabetes.
Everyone has their own tolerance for fat in their body
It’s especially important to note that if you have a family history of type 2 diabetes, you are more genetically susceptible. People in these circumstances need to be “very careful” with their weight, especially in adulthood, says Taylor. “If you’ve gained your weight well past the age of 21, you are in the danger zone – and you should get out. If you have a family history of diabetes, you really want to avoid weight gain in adulthood. “
As Taylor explains in his book, if you’ve increased your BMI by three units or more since your early twenties, you’re at risk. It doesn’t matter how slim you look to other people. “People imagine that anyone who says they’re slim won’t get type 2 diabetes, but that’s actually not true. Our current research includes people who are not obese and who actually have a normal BMI. “
This explains why only half of people who are initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are clinically obese and why studies have shown that nearly three quarters of extremely obese people with a BMI over 45 do not have type 2 diabetes. “Some people can put on glorious amounts of fat and store everything under their skin without having metabolic problems.”
Taylor also says it’s important to keep in mind that type 2 diabetes may be asymptomatic at first, so people at risk may want to have an annual test through their GP. Many chemists can do a simple fingerprint blood test, which gives an instant result of blood sugar levels. Signs to watch out for include increasing tiredness and, in particular, increasing thirst, as well as a tendency towards more skin infections, such as boils or candida, says Taylor.
Decreasing quickly body A weight of 2½st will put most people below their personal fat threshold, which drastically lowers their risk. Because of this, “the book goes through the steps people must follow to lose a significant amount of weight and then keep it off.”
Taylor hopes that by writing a paperback in simple, accessible language, he will reach people who are heading or have already received a diagnosis and want to learn more about his research. “I have found that there is a tremendous thirst for knowing exactly how people can deal with this disease on their own using the new information we have.” He also wants to explain to as many people as possible what causes type 2 diabetes so that individuals feel empowered to make healthy choices about their bodies and the foods they eat. “This book is intended for anyone who wants to understand what happens to food after it is swallowed and how your body deals with it. And also critical of how this affects their health. “For example, he found that when you eat more carbohydrates or protein than your body needs, most people don’t know that when you eat more carbohydrates or protein than your body needs, the excess is converted into fat and then stored.
This is a million miles away from fat shaming, he says, and it is up to each person to decide for themselves whether they are too heavy for their own health and happiness. “What I can highlight as a doctor are the circumstances that arise when people have exceeded their personal fat threshold,” he says. “There is no judgment of a person who happens to be difficult compared to someone who happens not to be difficult. It’s about helping people who would otherwise get into trouble. ”
Your Simple Guide to Reversing Type 2 Diabetes by Professor Roy Taylor is published by Short Books for £ 8.99. Buy it for £ 7.91 from guardianbookshop.com
