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Wes Streeting urged by Britain's top doc to focus on prevention to save NHS
Britain's most successful GP will push the Shadow Health Secretary with a plan to tackle obesity that could save the NHS tens of millions of pounds
By GILES SHELDRICK
Mon, Mar 25, 2024
Britain’s most successful GP will meet with the man who wants to be the next health secretary tomorrow in an attempt to solve the UK’s growing obesity emergency.

Dr David Unwin has helped 150 diabetic patients into remission by coaching them to adopt a low-carb lifestyle.

It has seen his surgery in Southport, Merseyside, save the cash-strapped NHS £100,000 from its drug budget with not a penny in financial support for the work that has been carried out for a decade. It also means his previously Type 2 diabetic patients do not need to take any medication, like metformin, or fad weight-loss jabs, after shedding the pounds and seeing their blood sugar readings tumble. Replicated across the UK, it could save tens of millions of pounds.

His central message to Wes Streeting will be: “Prevention is better than cure.”

Type 2 diabetes, almost exclusively due to poor diet, sugar addiction and obesity, is now one of the fastest growing health emergencies in Britain, costing the NHS £15 billion a year or £ 1million an hour. It is now being diagnosed routinely in children when 40 years ago it was almost exclusively a condition seen in the elderly.

Dr Unwin said: “Prevention being better than cure and far better than control with life-long medication seems so obvious and yet I feel recent Conservative governments have not really taken public health and the prevention of chronic disease seriously. This is why I want Wes Streeting to hear how in our practice 93% of those with pre-diabetes who improve their diet see their blood sugar normalise. Surely this is a beacon of hope. And it’s simple - just avoid foods that put your blood sugar up.”

David Unwin: 'On the ground as an NHS GP things continue to deteriorate.'

Early onset Type 2 is classed as a serious disease and associated with premature death, worse long-term health outcomes, and higher risk of complications like sight loss, kidney failure, amputation, heart attacks and strokes.

The disease is diagnosed with a haemoglobin test known as a Hba1c with the threshold being two blood sugar readings of 48 or more. A reading of 43 plus is considered pre-diabetes.

It comes as experts warned that soaring numbers of pill popping poses a threat to health yet the Department of Health and Social Care has approved making obesity medication like semaglutide, sold under the brand name Wegovy, available.

Meanwhile, official NHS guidelines state meals should be based on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates, despite mounting evidence they do more harm than good.

Starch is broken down into sugar by digestion but in people with the disease insulin - which regulates blood sugar - fails and sufferers become resistant to its effects. Blood sugar starts to rise, damaging circulation and blood vessels, causing inflammation. Sufferers become overweight as livers become clogged up with fat.

Dr Unwin said: “On the ground as an NHS GP things continue to deteriorate. Our practice has seen a ten-fold increase in the numbers of people suffering with Type 2 diabetes, a condition closely linked to overconsumption and obesity. A look around any petrol station or supermarket will show the likely culprits: shelf after shelf of sugary treats, crisps, and chocolate bars. All washed down with litres of equally sugary drinks.