He talks about a “great paradigm shift.” The High Health Authority (HAS) now recommends non-pharmacological therapies as the first line to treat patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, it announced this Thursday, June 6, in a press release.
“To ensure optimal care for patients, the HAS updates its recommendations for health professionals and positions non-pharmacological therapies, including physical activity, as first-line treatments for the first time,” he writes.
In 2022, more than 3.8 million people were treated for diabetes in France, type 2 for 90% of adults. This means that in these adults, the excess sugar observed in the blood is due to poor use of insulin, the hormone responsible for regulating it, by the body’s cells.
This disease can cause “sometimes serious” complications, especially in the heart, arteries, kidneys, eyes, nerves and feet, reminds HAS.
A lifestyle change after the diagnosis.
The latest recommendations from the health authority in 2013 only mentioned the pharmacological treatment of patients. Based in particular on “international evidence” and the opinions of the Transparency Commission, the HAS now recommends “as soon as diabetes is diagnosed” a change in the patient’s lifestyle that should even be “prior to a possible pharmacological treatment “.
This is, in particular, physical activity, which has “numerous therapeutic benefits”, such as “improving insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of diabetes progression or even cardiovascular complications”, notes the HAS.
Plans adapted to each patient
It also recommends implementing a nutritional program to improve the patient’s glycemic balance. But these modifications must be personalized and adapted to each patient so that they can “progressively gain autonomy” in the management of their disease, the HAS specifies.
“If lifestyle changes are not enough, the patient is offered medication,” continues the health authority.
The choice of treatment must take into account the patient’s profile, his comorbidities, his risk factors and his preferences, his effect on blood sugar levels but also his potential “protective effects” on the cardiovascular and renal systems.
Source: BFM TV
