Abstract
A 40-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, central obesity (body mass index: 40 kg/m2) and mixed hyperlipidaemia was treated with oral hypoglycaemic, antihypertensive and hypolipidaemic drugs as well as with intramuscular insulin. She kept gaining weight and developed hiatus hernia with regurgitation. Treatment was changed to a very low caloric diet during 9 months. She lost 18 kg of body weight and all drugs could be discontinued, as she became normoglycaemic, normotensive and normolipidaemic. Obesity is a risk factor for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. To reach euglycaemia in overweight type 2 diabetics is a difficult task. Oral hypoglycaemic agents and insulin are often used in combination with dietary intervention without adequate results. Losing body weight should be first-line treatment. However, compliance with weight-reducing methods is often low. The pathophysiologic importance of significant weight loss in the treatment of (morbid) obesity in type 2 diabetic patients is great.
