Australians living with type 2 diabetes could benefit from the latest results of a La Trobe University 12-month study, which found a digital program focused on nutrition education and behaviour change could help manage and reverse type 2 diabetes.
The first-of-its-kind Australian study published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice evaluated Defeat Diabetes, a digital program to support type 2 diabetes management through education and behavioural change, backed by nutrition therapy, over a 12-month period.
The study found:
- One in five maintained blood glucose levels below 6.5% after stopping glucose-lowering medication entirely, indicating they’ve reversed diabetes.
- Of those on diabetes medication at the start, 13% discontinued all diabetes medication; 10% ceased all blood pressure medication; 7% stopped cholesterol-lowering medication.
- Liver markers (ALT and GGT) improved significantly, pointing to broader metabolic health gains beyond blood sugar alone.
- Self-reported well-being improved by 9 points, confidence in managing diabetes increased by 5 points, and diabetes-related distress fell significantly.
Type 2 diabetes affects more than 1.7 million people in Australia, with diagnoses almost tripling over the past two decades. It accounts for over 2% of Australia’s total disease burden and is also a major contributing factor for heart disease, kidney disease, dementia and amputation.
The clinical implications are also significant for the healthcare system, with diabetes costing more than $3 billion each year. Broader economic impacts, including lost productivity and long-term care costs, are estimated at a further $17.6 billion.
The findings are a wake-up call, according to Dr Ron Schweitzer, a general practitioner specialising in metabolic health and one of the clinicians behind the study.
“The old narrative – that type 2 diabetes is a one-way street toward more medication – simply doesn’t hold up,” he says. “In my practice, I’ve seen the Defeat Diabetes app help patients achieve real, lasting improvements that outperform medication. Many have been able to reduce their prescriptions or stop taking anti-diabetes drugs entirely.”
Dr Schweitzer says the study brings long-overdue clinical backing to what many practitioners have already witnessed. “As the longest and most comprehensive real-world trial of a digitally-delivered low-carbohydrate nutrition program in Australia, it makes a clear case: structured dietary support isn’t an alternative to standard diabetes care – it should be at the heart of it.”
With both prevalence and cost of diabetes expected to rise, Professor Peter Brukner, Sports and Exercise Physician and founder of Defeat Diabetes, said the study highlights a timely need to rethink how type 2 diabetes is managed.
“For too long, millions of Australians with type 2 diabetes have been left without hope. The standard approach has been to diagnose, medicate and monitor the decline. These results say otherwise. Nutrition therapy produces outcomes that medication alone rarely achieves and yet access to this kind of education remains out of reach for most people. That is not acceptable.
“This study shows that, for many Australians, the right nutrition education and care can lead to clinically significant improvements in health outcomes that are sustained longer-term,” Professor Brukner said.
“More than three billion dollars leaves the Australian healthcare system every year because of diabetes. We cannot keep ignoring what the evidence is telling us.”
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