Remission means that your blood sugar levels (also known as blood glucose levels) are below the diabetes range, usually without you needing to take any diabetes medication.
Remission is when your HbA1c — a measure of long-term blood glucose levels — remains below 48mmol/mol or 6.5% for at least three months, without diabetes medication.
This definition has been agreed by a team of international experts from here at Diabetes UK, the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
Some people call this ‘reversing type 2 diabetes’, but we use the term remission because your blood sugar levels can rise again. If your regular blood tests show your HbA1c remaining below 48 mmol/mol or 6.5%, talk to your healthcare team to discuss diabetes remission and how this applies to you.
Is remission a cure for type 2 diabetes?
Diabetes remission is quite a new idea. A lot of research is needed before we fully understand it. We don’t have enough evidence that remission is permanent. It needs to be maintained and in many cases, blood sugar levels can rise again, which is why it is so important to continue your diabetes appointments while in remission.
How can you put diabetes into remission?
The strongest evidence we have suggests that diabetes is mainly put into remission by weight loss.
If you live with obesity or overweight, you are more likely to put your diabetes into remission if you lose a substantial amount of weight – 15kg (or 2 stone 5lbs) – safely and as quickly as possible following your diagnosis.
If you do want to start losing weight quickly to work towards remission, it's important to talk to a healthcare professional before you begin, to make sure it’s right for you. Also, you may need to reduce or stop any medications – insulin or sulphonylurea, for example – before you begin losing weight.
Rapid weight loss is not advised if you are a healthy weight, under 18, pregnant, breastfeeding or have ever been diagnosed with an eating disorder.
Source: The British Diabetic Association
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