WHILE it is good to see local research reaching international prominence, I am not sure that the DiRECT trial tells us anything we did not know already about Type2 diabetes (“Low-calorie diet can beat Type 2 diabetes without drugs, study finds”, The Herald, December 6).
Both the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (Sign, management of diabetes) and Nice in England (Diabetes in adults: management) emphasise weight loss and exercise as first line treatments so I think the authors err when they say, for example that “diabetes remission by cutting calories is rarely discussed”.
All GPs will have seen people who have sorted out their own diabetes by improving their lifestyle and losing weight.
Sadly, they will also have seen many who find this too challenging. They are probably not helped by the supermarkets, with entire aisles devoted to crisps and fizzy drinks or by the media when it equates “exercise” with going to the gym in lycra, rather than walking, cycling or gardening.
Perhaps instead of telling us how we’re getting it wrong, the next study could be devoted to how we achieve, and maintain, the sort of lifestyle changes that are desired for the entire population?
Dr David Syme, GP,
Killin,
Loch Tay,
Stirling.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here