Consuming a low-calorie diet daily for four months can cure Type 2 diabetes, a new study has revealed. 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.