Key Points
Key Points
- RESET for Remission trial: 96 young adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes and obesity
- 54% achieved remission with low-energy diet plus exercise vs 4% with standard care
- Muscle mass preserved; first such result in a multi-ethnic young population
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Type 2 diabetes can be reversed. A new trial found that a low-calorie diet combined with exercise put early-onset type 2 diabetes into remission in over half of participants.
The RESET for Remission trial was published in The Lancet Regional Health Americas. The University of Leicester reported the results in early October 2026. The findings were also presented at the EASD Annual Meeting in Milan.
The Trial
The trial included 96 adults aged 18 to 45 with early-onset type 2 diabetes and obesity. The average age was 38 and the average weight was over 100 kg.
It ran across three centres in Leicester, McGill, and Alberta. Participants were randomly assigned to the diet-and-exercise programme or standard care.
The Programme
The intervention group followed an 800 to 900 calorie per day diet for 12 weeks. They also did structured aerobic and resistance exercise.
For the next 12 weeks, they followed a weight-maintenance plan and kept exercising. After 24 weeks, the results were striking.
Remarkable Results
Fifty-four percent of the diet-and-exercise group achieved remission. Only 4 percent of the standard care group did. That makes the programme group roughly 21 times more likely to remit.
Muscle mass was preserved despite 7.5 kg greater average weight loss. Strength, fitness, and heart structure all improved. There were no severe adverse events.
This is the first trial to show these effects in a multi-ethnic population with early-onset type 2 diabetes. It offers real hope for younger patients facing the disease.
A Growing Crisis
Type 2 diabetes is appearing at younger ages around the world. Early-onset cases are rising fast, driven by obesity and lifestyle factors.
Young people with diabetes face decades of the disease. That means more years of medication, higher complication risks, and greater healthcare costs. Finding a way to reverse it is urgently needed.
What Remission Means
Remission means blood sugar returns to normal without diabetes medication. It is not the same as a cure, but it is life-changing.
People in remission still need monitoring. But they can live without daily drugs and with far lower risks of complications like blindness, kidney failure, and amputations.
A Multi-Ethnic Breakthrough
Many diabetes studies have focused on single ethnic groups. The RESET trial’s multi-ethnic design makes its findings relevant to diverse populations.
The trial ran in Leicester, McGill, and Alberta, bringing together researchers across the UK and Canada. Presenting at the EASD meeting in Milan put the results before the world’s diabetes experts.
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