Daybreak - Sugar.fit's diabetes 'reversal' plan is anything but sweet

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Cult.fit backed Sugar.fit very boldly promises to completely “cure”  diabetes in as little as six months. It also promises unlimited consultations with top doctors, daily fitness classes, the works. All for about Rs 30,000. That’s a small price to pay for a diabetes-free life. So of course, thousands sign up for it. But if you ask a healthcare professional they will tell you that reversing diabetes completely just isn’t possible. So what is Sugar.fit up to? Tune in to find out P.S. While you are here, check out the latest episode of The Ken's careers podcast The First Two Years. Host Akshaya Chandrasekaran delves into how to transition from grunt work to real work. 

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too? It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Ramon Ganesh, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production. Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording.

Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get an alert as soon as we release our first episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. Dharmenendar Kumar is a 52-year-old from Noida. He's also a type 2 diabetes patient who's been on medication for almost a decade now. A couple years ago during the pandemic, Dharmena's helped to come.

could toll. His sugar levels were off the charts. And like all diabetes patients, he was sick and tired of the constant ups and downs that come with the disease. So two years ago, when he attended a webinar by the Bangalore-based health tech startup SugarFit, where the company basically said it would reverse diabetes, Tharmenendar was sold. And can you really blame him? Here was a startup backed by CultFit, which has pretty much become synonymous with health and fitness in the last few years. And it was very boldly promising to completely cure your diabetes in as little as six months. It also promised unlimited consultations with top doctors, daily fitness classes, the works. And all for about 30,000 rupees. That's a small price to pay for a diabetes free life. So of course,

Thurmenendar was hooked. He immediately signed up for the plan and for a couple months, things were going really, really well. He managed to lose a fair bit of weight. and lower his HPA-1c levels a bit. For context, HPA-1C is a measure of the amount of glucose attached to the body's red blood cells. So to put it plainly, it's basically a term used for your sugar levels. Okay, that ends my science lesson. Basically, after signing up for SugarFit's plan, Dharmena's sugar levels dropped a little. But that's about it.

He was still diabetic. So the company wasn't able to follow through with its promise of reversing his diabetes. And it gets worse. At some point, one of the doctors asked Dharmena to stop taking one of the medicines for diabetes. He did that and about 15 days later, his sugar levels had spiked considerably. Now, what's concerning is that Dharmenendr isn't the only one whose hopes of reversing diabetes were shattered. In the last couple years, there's been a massive public outcry against sugar fit. So many hopeful diabetes patients like Darminder have been let me.

down after signing up for the company's diabetes reversal plan. And yet, the health tech startup is still able to lure users just by centering its communication on diabetes reversal. But here's the thing. If you ask a healthcare professional, they'll tell you that reversing diabetes completely just isn't possible. So what is sugar fit up to? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken.

I'm your host, Rahil Philippos, and I'll be joining Znitha every week to bring you one business story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 3rd of July. Consider this. A Lancet study has found that about 11% of India's 1.4 billion population is estimated to be living with diabetes. And type 2 diabetes, which is the kind that Dharmane has, is the most common form of the condition. Now, when you think about that, it suddenly makes sense why health tech firms like Sugarfit make the soft. of claims that they do, because there's a huge opportunity for business here. And that's exactly

what CULFIT wanted to capitalize on when it decided to back SugarFit. You see, Sugar Fit is by no means the first company to claim it can reverse diabetes completely. But it definitely is one of the most sophisticated health techs in the space. Take a look at its program. It provides those enrolled with a continuous glucose monitoring or CGM device. And like I mentioned a little while ago, all of its clients also get unlimited expert consultations, two-quately screening tests, fitness classes, among other things. All of this combined is SugarFits not-so-secret source for diabetes reversal. The company claims that once you go through the program,

you will get to a point where you will no longer need medicines or insulin. It promises to bring your blood sugar levels back to normal, like magic. Except for most users, SugarFit doesn't quite deliver on its promises. For instance, the company claims to provide consultations with top doctors. In fact, during a webinar, Sugar Fit co-founder Shiftosh Kumar said that these doctors treat top businessmen, industrialists, movie stars. But here's the thing. Users like Dharmeda found that none of the doctors featured in the webinar or mentioned in the panel on the SugarFit app were the ones actually providing consultations. In fact, Dharmeda said that the diabetologists who were available for consultations weren't even experienced.

experienced enough. Three former employees told the Ken reporter Shivani Varma that the doctors are generally hired on a contract basis. They charge about 300 to 450 rupees per consultation. So not quite the premium experience Shifthos had promised. Shifthos also claimed that the program was accredited by the world's top associations. Except the Ken couldn't find any proof of these accreditations. In fact, just last year, the American Diabetes Association, or ADA, denied the accreditation claim completely. Also, the company mentioned six peer-reviewed journals on its website. These journals talk about the reduction of HPA-1C levels, fasting blood sugar and weight in people with type to diabetes who have enrolled themselves into sugar fits program. Now, the funny thing is

that none of them mention any scientific evidence for the zero medicine, zero-insenged, insulin, complete freedom from diabetes claim that sugar fit has made. And interestingly, all the papers are either commissioned by Ragus Healthcare, which is Sugar Fitz registered name, or have their own employees as authors. All of this just to drive home its primary promise, that the company can completely reverse your diabetes. But anyone with a medical degree can tell you that that just isn't possible. So why is sugar fit going down this unscientific?

root. More on that in the next segment. The bottom line is that type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, which means typically it doesn't go away permanently. Like Amrish Bithal, chairman of the endocrinology and diabetes department at Max Healthcare said, diabetes can go into remission. Basically what that means is that some patients with type 2 diabetes can see sugar levels drop to non-diabetic levels, if they follow certain guidelines with diet and exercise. But the term remission is important here because the implications of the word remission is different as compared to reversal. Reversal means completely undoing it. It implies permanence. What health tech companies like Sugarfit do is they handhold patients into a specific diet and routine, something specialised doctors don't

really have the bandwidth to do. And with that, these companies promise reversal to everyone. which Mittal says just is impossible. But you see, there's an interesting story behind how this whole diabetes reversal narrative came into being. It was actually conceptualized by a UK-based physician and diabetologist named Roy Taylor in 2011. But eventually, the American Diabetes Association ruled that the usage of the term reversal would be misleading for consumers. ADA said that the word remission should be used instead. And only in cases where HBA1C levels are. less than 6.5% for at least three months without any medication.

Now, for companies like SugarFit, the issue is that remission just doesn't sell, only reversal does. At least that's what they believe. And that's why these terms are very often used interchangeably. So what ends up happening is that these programs overpromise and then don't deliver. But besides the terminology and claims, Arbindar Single, the co-founder of Fitterfly, a Mumbai-based, health tech company said that the programs are beneficial. So they are actually useful for diabetes patients. But most experts believe that there has to be some sort of guidance and regulation around

what these companies promise and they have to be asked to share their results. But that's easier said than done. So until that becomes a reality, SugarFit will keep making bold assertions about flipping diabetes on its head, loosely using the term reversal as bait for users like Tharbender Kumar. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription unlocks daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and podcast extras. Head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website.

Today's episode was hosted by Rahil Filippo's produced by me, Snigda Sharma, and edited by Rajiv Sien.