Breakthrough: how type 2 diabetes can be reversed

Diabetes affects about three-and-a-half million South Africans  (about 6% of the population), and it's on the increase.

Type 2 diabetes affects 9% of the global population and was once known as adult-onset diabetes, but is now also found in young adults and children.

Type 2 diabetes is a long-term condition and the most common variety of diabetes. Patients with type 2 diabetes become resistant to insulin, a hormone that helps turn glucose from food into energy. To overcome this resistance, the pancreas makes more insulin, but eventually, it just can't make enough.