Gloucester MP sheds seven stone on NHS liquid diet
Alex McIntyre took action following a diabetes diagnosis
Gloucester MP Alex McIntyre, has shed seven stone in four and half months, and is now calling on people to get tested for diabetes.
He was diagnosed with type two diabetes in January and has since been on an NHS programme of liquid meals.
His intake of calories is down to around 800 to 900 a day and he is on track to put his condition in remission.
More than 7,450 people have been diagnosed with diabetes in Gloucester, which is roughly 5% of people in the city.
And Labour MP is keen to encourage more people to get tested: "I was very overweight at the time, and was concerned that I had a couple what appeared to be symptoms of type two diabetes.
“It was quite a big wake up call for me. The latest research has shown that if you’re diagnosed in your 30s, like I was and you don’t get it under control, then your average life expectancy is cut by 16 years.
“It’s massive, and for me with a young family, that is the difference between seeing my little boy, have a full adulthood or not.”
Mr McIntyre has since hosted events in Parliament with Diabetes UK which looks at the future of diabetes treatment.
He said early onset of type two is a massive risk at the moment in the country with people in their 20s and 30s being diagnosed:
“I wanted to shift a few pounds this year, because last year had been quite a busy year and I’ve gained quite a lot of weight just like lots of people do who have busy lives. It’s very easy to gain weight.
“In Gloucestershire we have a brilliant diabetes team who offer of advice and I’ve done some online advice sessions with them.
“They also put me on a program called the pathway to remission program and it’s a national program, but it’s organised locally for Gloucestershire. I’s a year-long program.
“I’m 13 weeks in at the moment, but the first 12 weeks are a complete diet replacement program. So you are put on soups and shakes for 12 weeks, you’re having 800 to 900 calories a day.
“They can offer you kind of jabs as well as part of that. I personally decided not to take the jabs because I thought I could lose the weight using the soups and shakes.
“For many people the jabs are doing really good things to help people lose weight so I wouldn’t put people off it, but it wasn’t what I chose to do.
“I’ve lost seven stone, this year so far, that’s over a third of my body weight, that I’ve lost in four and a half months.
“I’m just waiting for a blood test again, but the early indications from my regular blood testing is that my diabetes is likely to be in remission, which is amazing.”
He said Diabetes UK research found that during an intensive period of dieting, within a relatively short space of time of being diagnosed with type two diabetes people have a really high chance of putting your diabetes into remission:
“I think on this program 60% of people who successfully complete it can put their diabetes into remission.
“If you’re in remission, you’re highly unlikely then to develop the really nasty complications of issues with your feet and amputations or blindness, and heart disease.
“It’s transformational and it’s available for everyone. There are some qualifications in terms of you have to be willing to commit to it and you have to have a blood sugar at a certain level.
“But most type two diabetics who have recently been diagnosed with this programs are able to change their lives.
“It’s had a massive impact for me and, you know, I’m very keen to raise awareness of it.
“People need to get tested, you know, there’s lots of younger men or men heading towards middle age who don’t want to go and see a doctor.
“It’s really important that things don’t feel right, that people get checked if they are carrying a little bit of extra timber like me.”
61.5% of people diagnosed with diabetes in Gloucester received their eight annual checks, which are vital for spotting complications.
Only 28% of people with the condition in the city achieved all three treatment targets, the metrics by which diabetes care is measured (blood glucose level, cholesterol treatment and blood pressure).
This is lower than the average in England which is 35.6%.
Since it programme used by Mr McIntyre was first piloted in 2020, over 25,000 people have been offered the chance to take part.
The most common symptoms of type two diabetes are feeling very tired, peeing more than usual, feeling thirsty all the time and losing weight without trying to.