Weight loss after diabetes diagnosis helps

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- People who lose weight soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis have better control of their blood sugar, even if the weight is regained, U.S. researchers say.

Lead author Dr. Adrianne Feldstein of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., tracked more than 2,500 adults with type 2 diabetes for four years. Those who lost weight within an average of 18 months after diagnosis were up to twice as likely to achieve their blood pressure and blood sugar targets as those who didn't lose weight.

Those benefits can prevent diabetes-related heart disease, blindness, nerve and kidney damage, and death.

"Our study shows that early weight loss can reduce the risk factors that so often lead to diabetes complications and death," Feldstein says in a statement.

The four-year study tracked 2,574 patients with type 2 diabetes from 1997 to 2002. Most patients remained at about the same weight during the first three years of the study, but a small group of 314 patients lost an average of 23 pounds. This group was more likely to meet blood pressure and glucose targets during the fourth year even though, by that time, most of them had regained their weight.

The findings are published online in Diabetes Care.