- TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) — Newly diagnosed type 2
diabetics who lose weight soon after their diagnosis gain better control
of their blood pressure and blood sugar, a benefit that lasts even if they
regain that weight.

“If you lose weight after diagnosis, you can achieve some long-term
benefits in terms of blood pressure and glycemic control that extend even
beyond the point at which you regain weight,” said Gregory A. Nichols,
co-author of new research published online Aug. 12 in the journal
Diabetes Care.

Added Dr. Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist with Lenox Hill Hospital
in New York City: “We haven't had results like this before. This is
telling us that with a significant mean weight loss of 10.7 kilograms
[23.5 pounds] in 18 months, there's an improvement despite weight regain
after 36 months.”

More than 20 million Americans now have type 2 diabetes, and the
majority are either overweight or obese.

Studies have shown that weight loss is important to maintain
blood-sugar and blood-pressure control, as well as to keep cholesterol
levels in check. These parameters, in turn, are critical for avoiding the
long-term complications of diabetes, such as heart disease, blindness,
kidney damage, amputations and even death.

Nichols, an investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health
Research in Portland, Ore., and his team looked at electronic medical
records, spanning 1997 to 2002, for 2,574 patients aged 21 through 75 who
had been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The participants were
grouped into weight loss categories and followed for four years.

Just over 12 percent of the participants were in the “weight loss”
group, with a mean weight loss of more than 25 pounds. Almost all of those
pounds were regained by 36 months. The other groups were labeled as
“higher stable weight,” “lower stable weight” or “weight gain.”

Patients who lost weight were more likely to reach blood pressure and
blood sugar targets during the fourth year, although, by then, they had
regained the weight.

The researchers acknowledged, however, that they don't know what
happens after the four-year mark, and they don't know why the benefit was
sustained. “It's entirely possible that one of the explanations here is
that if we looked at 15 years, we wouldn't find that benefit continuing,”
Nichols said.

Nichols and his colleagues hope to explore a number of other questions,
including whether there was a difference in benefit between people who
regained weight and those who kept it off.

Whatever the final answers, “losing weight is a good idea, even if you
regain it,” Nichols said.

Said Mezitis: “We do ask that those diabetics who are overweight lose
weight, and that, in general, improves all the factors that affect
vascular disease, and that's blood pressure, blood sugar and
cholesterol.”

More information

Visit the American Diabetes Association for more on weight loss
and type 2 diabetes.