Health experts recommend low and very low energy diet to tackle obesity and diabetes as the conditions hit record high in UK
Posted On: 24th February 2025
On 10th February, the House of Commons Library published its research briefing on adult obesity and overweight in the UK. According to the latest data, in England, 64% people have overweight or obesity, showing a 22% increase over the past three decades.
The analysis of obesity and overweight prevalence in Scotland, Wales and Northen Ireland show similar alarming results. Almost a third of adults in Scotland had obesity in 2023, the highest level on record. Research between the years 2022 and 2024 shows that, in Wales, 65% of men had overweight or obesity, compared with 57% of women, while, in Norther Ireland, the percentage of men and women with either of these two conditions was 69% and 60% respectively.
Meanwhile, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the UK ranks tenth among the countries with the highest measured percentage of people with obesity.
The briefing from the Commons Library follows a publication from Diabetes UK showing that 1 in 5 adults in the UK live with diabetes or pre-diabetes. The charity’s chief executive said the organisation is “concerned that the rise in the number of those living with … obesity is translating into soaring cases of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes across the UK”. According to Diabetes UK “the strongest evidence we have at the moment suggests that type 2 diabetes is mainly put into remission by weight loss. Remission is more likely if you lose weight as soon as possible after your diabetes diagnosis”.
Last month, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its updated guideline on overweight and obesity management. The guideline recommends that low-energy diets (LEDs) should be considered “as part of multicomponent overweight and obesity management strategy with long-term support within a specialist overweight and obesity management service (or other services for the management of long-term conditions such as type 2 diabetes)”. NICE recommends that LEDs should be used for people with obesity, with or without type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and adults with overweight and T2DM. The institute also supports the use of very-low energy diets (VLEDs) for people who are living with obesity and have clinically assessed need to lose weight rapidly.
According to NICE, the evidence examined by the committee that made the recommendations showed “that LEDs and VLEDs are effective with results lasting for 3 to 5 years after undertaking the diets if ongoing support is given”. The diets that were used in the analysed studies “were more effective than usual care for both mixed populations (people living with overweight and people living with obesity).” Moreover, NICE stressed that “there was no evidence of adverse events linked with low-energy and very-low-energy diets” and that “the health economic analysis found low-energy diets plus weight maintenance support to be cost-effective in people who are living with obesity, or who are living with overweight and have type 2 diabetes”.
In 2021, the cost of obesity to the UK economy was estimated at an astounding £98 billion, equivalent to almost 4% of the national GDP, while recent research commissioned by Diabetes UK showed that the National Health Service (NHS) spends £10.7 billion a year on diabetes, that is, about 6% of the UK health budget. Explaining the benefits of using LEDs to tackle obesity or overweight and T2DM, NICE has emphasised that “reduced levels of overweight and obesity could reduce the costs of treating related conditions for the NHS and wider systems, such as social care”.
The NHS England is already using a low-calorie diet programme to help people with obesity or overweight and T2DM in selected areas. Analysis of the results of the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme has shown that it has been successful and cost-effective. Following these results and in light of NICE’s recommendations to tackle obesity and T2DM and the ever-increasing rates of the conditions, the Government needs to expand the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme across the UK.
More information on LEDs and VLEDs can be found here.
TDMR Europe works to help stakeholders, such as policymakers and healthcare professionals, develop a better understanding of slimming foods used for LEDs and VLEDs and aims to increase awareness of the research on the products. Businesses and organisations in the sector interested in finding out more can reach out to TDMR Europe at secretariat@tdmr-europe.com.
Aris Myriskos
TDMR Europe Secretariat
Press and Media Relations Office