Dr Andrews and his co-researchers discovered that dramatic changes to diet made soon after a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes can improve a patient’s control of blood sugar levels.

The researchers looked at whether intensive modifications to diet or diet plus physical exercise could lead to improvements over the usual care for people newly diagnosed with diabetes. They found that an intensive diet intervention soon after diagnosis can improve glycaemic control, while the addition of an activity intervention did not lead to additional benefit.

The study was published in The Lancet and has been named the award’s Diabetes Category winner.

Dr Andrews said: ‘Our findings show that education and support provided soon after diagnosis of this disease should focus on improving dietary behaviours. More research is needed into the effects of different kinds of physical activity at different stages of the disease.’

Award Panel Chair, Professor Frank Sullivan, said: ‘The recommendations which stem from the results of this paper could very quickly be applied in day-to-day working life within GP practices working with other colleagues in the service.’