Type 2 diabetes can be reversed with sustained weight loss, but too often doctors fail to record, track, or trumpet those successes, according to a new study that calls for wider reporting of such cases of diabetes “remission.”

In a new report in the British Medical Journal BMJ, Louise McCombie at the University of Glasgow and colleagues say the underreported benefits of weight loss, may leave many patients and doctors unaware that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed.

As a result, they are calling for better documentation and surveillance of remissions to raise awareness, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.

Type 2 diabetes is skyrocketing globally and millions rely on medication to control blood sugar to head off complications from the metabolic disorder, including life-threatening heart disease, organ damage, vision problems, and amputations.

But the Glasgow researchers noted that consistent scientific evidence shows that weight loss is associated with extended life expectancy for people with diabetes, and that weight loss of about 34 pounds often produces total remission of Type 2 diabetes.

Yet such cases of remission are rarely recorded or reported, argue the authors. For example, a U.S. study found remissions were reported for only 0.14 percent of 120,000 patients followed for seven years, while the Scottish Care Information Diabetes database — which includes every patient in Scotland — shows that less than 0.1 percent of those with Type 2 diabetes were coded as being in remission.

“It is in everybody’s interest to reclassify people with Type 2 diabetes when they become non-diabetic,” said the Glasgow researchers. “Official guidelines and international consensus for recording diabetes in remission are needed.”

They added: “Appropriate coding will make it possible to monitor progress in achieving remission of Type 2 diabetes nationally and internationally and to improve predictions of long term health outcomes for patients with a known duration of remission.”