People who cut down on their calories intake had a far more significant improvement in the condition and in their general health than the medication offered.

They no longer required life- saving insulin, the level of fat built up around their hearts was considerably reduced and their cardiac function improved.

`It is striking to see how a relatively simple intervention of a very low-calorie diet effectively cures Type 2 diabetes,` the Daily Express quoted lead author of the study, Dr Sebastiaan Hammer as saying.

`Our results show that 16 weeks of caloric restriction improved heart function in these patients.`

`More importantly, despite regain of weight, these beneficial cardiovascular effects were persistent over the long term.`

`Lifestyle interventions may have more powerful beneficial cardiac effects than medication in these patients,` Hammer added.

In the study, the researchers used scans and analysed heart function and pericardial fat in 15 patients-seven men and eight women-with Type 2 diabetes before and after four months of a diet consisting of 500 calories a day.

Changes in body mass index (BMI) were also measured. The results revealed that caloric restriction reduced BMI from 35.3 to 27.5 over a period of four months.

Pericardial fat also decreased by about a third and resting heart function improved distinctly.

The discovery important implications because diabetics and the obese are particularly more vulnerable to suffering a potentially fatal heart attack or being struck down by debilitating heart disease.

Source: ANI
Image: Flickr/creativecommons suavehouse113