Advice on sugar and starch is urged in type 2 diabetes counselling

GPs have been urged to help patients with type 2 diabetes make informed choices about their treatment, including advice that reducing their daily intake of sugar and starchy carbohydrate could reverse the disorder.

“I have spent 25 years failing patients with type 2 diabetes whose blood sugar levels got worse as they got steadily heavier—and nothing I could say or do made any difference,” said David Unwin, a GP partner in Southport since 1986, who was recently appointed national champion for collaborative care and support planning in obesity and diabetes at the Royal College of General Practitioners. He was speaking at a meeting at the King’s Fund in London on 30 November.

Currently, around 3.2 million …