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A $1.4 million Government study is aiming to sort out the facts from the fads and find out which diet is best to help people with type 2 diabetes lose weight and keep it off.
Endocrinologist Jeremy Krebs said type 2 diabetes had reached "epidemic proportions" here.
"Some 200,000 people, or 5 per cent of the adult population, are now estimated to have type 2, or adult onset, diabetes," he said.