Meal replacement shakes and type 2 diabetes
Yes — meal replacement shakes can be part of a weight-loss plan if you have type 2 diabetes, but talk to your GP, diabetes nurse or pharmacist before you start. Eating much less lowers your blood glucose quickly, so any diabetes medication you take often needs to be reviewed before you cut calories, not after.
Shake That Weight is a regulated UK food company. Our soups and shakes are made under BRC-certified manufacturing and formulated to the same GB regulations for meal replacement and total diet replacement products that cover the formulas used in the research further down this page. We don’t sell “diabetic” products, we are not part of any NHS programme, and nothing on this page is a claim about what our products will do for your diabetes.
Clinical and regulatory references on this page were checked on 7 October 2026.
At a glance
- The short answer
- Yes, you can use meal replacement shakes with type 2 diabetes, provided your GP or diabetes team is involved first
- Why the GP conversation matters
- Cutting calories lowers blood glucose quickly; insulin and some tablets can cause hypos if the doses aren’t reviewed first
- No such thing as a diabetic shake
- “Diabetic” labelling isn’t permitted on UK food, and Diabetes UK says the category offers no benefit; read the label, not the marketing
- What to look at on a label
- Sugars, total carbohydrate, protein, fibre and calories per serving; and whether it’s a total diet replacement or an ordinary protein shake
- The research
- Trials of total diet replacement at around 600–800 kcal a day have shown remission of type 2 diabetes for a share of participants, more often with greater weight loss and earlier after diagnosis
- How our products relate to the research
- Not used in the trials themselves, but formulated to the same GB regulations for meal replacement and total diet replacement as the formulas that were. We’re not part of the NHS programme.
Can people with type 2 diabetes use meal replacement shakes?
Yes — most people with type 2 diabetes can use meal replacement shakes as part of a weight-loss plan, but speak to your GP, diabetes nurse or pharmacist before you start. Cutting calories lowers blood glucose quickly, so any diabetes medication you take may need to be reviewed before you reduce calories, not afterwards.
Diabetes UK’s own page on meal replacement plans says the way these diets restrict calories “can affect your diabetes as well as other health conditions, and any medications you take”, and that the best way to tell if a meal replacement plan is right for you is to get support from your GP or diabetes nurse, who can “make appropriate changes to any medications you’re taking”. That is the single most important sentence on this page.
The specifics worth knowing before the conversation:
- Insulin and sulfonylureas (such as gliclazide) lower your blood glucose regardless of how much you eat. If you eat much less without a dose review, there is a real risk of hypoglycaemia. Only your clinical team should change these doses.
- SGLT2 inhibitors (the medicines ending in “-gliflozin”) carry a rare risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, which can occur even at near-normal blood glucose. The MHRA has issued safety advice on this. If you take one, tell your GP or pharmacist you are planning a low-calorie plan before you start.
- Metformin doesn’t usually cause hypos on its own, but your team may still want to review your overall plan.
A low-calorie meal replacement plan is also not recommended if you are under 18, pregnant, breastfeeding or less than three months post-birth, if you have an eating disorder, a serious heart condition, or if you are having cancer treatment. Other conditions can make it unsafe too. Your GP is the person to decide.
Diabetes UK, “Meal replacement plans for type 2 diabetes remission“, last reviewed 29 January 2024.
What should you look for in a shake if you have diabetes?
There is no such thing as a diabetic shake. “Diabetic” and “suitable for diabetics” labelling has not been permitted on UK food since July 2016, and Diabetes UK’s position is that the category offers no benefit. What matters is the nutrition panel: sugars, total carbohydrate, protein, fibre and calories per serving.
On the label, check:
- Added sugars per serving. The “of which sugars” figure on a food label groups together added sugars and naturally occurring ones like lactose from milk, so a shake prepared with milk shows a higher sugars figure without that meaning the same thing for blood glucose. See the sugar section below.
- Total carbohydrate per serving, not just sugars. Starches count too.
- Protein per serving.
- Fibre per serving. Low-calorie plans can be low in fibre, which affects digestion. If you want to add more fibre to a plan, our Orange FibreMaxx + Gut Boost is a fibre top-up designed for that.
- Calories per serving, as prepared with water or milk — not just the powder.
- Whether it is a total diet replacement or an ordinary meal replacement. Total diet replacement products are formulated to supply all your nutrition for a short period and are governed by specific GB rules. Ordinary meal replacement shakes are intended to replace one or two meals a day, not all of them.
Diabetes UK’s position statement on diabetic foods, last reviewed July 2016, concludes there is “no role or benefit from the use of diabetic foods” and calls for an end to “diabetic” labelling — a view shared by the European Commission at the time the rules changed.
How do Shake That Weight shakes and soups compare on sugar and carbs?
Our water-mix shakes and most of our soups sit between 1.3g and 8.5g of sugar per serving. Our two milk-mix shakes are higher — about 23g per serving — because they are prepared with 250ml of skimmed milk, and most of that sugar is lactose from the milk.
The table below is the as-prepared nutrition panel for our core shakes and soups, straight from the product labels. We’re not labelling any product “diabetic” or “suitable for diabetics”, because the law doesn’t allow it and Diabetes UK says it isn’t helpful. The job of this table is to let you compare the numbers yourself.
A note on the milk-mix figures. Our two milk-mix shakes (Vanilla and Café Latte) show around 23g of sugar per serving as prepared. Most of that is lactose from the 250ml of skimmed milk you add — about 12g of sugar comes from the milk itself. We show the as-prepared figure, not the sachet-only one, because that is what you actually drink. If sugar per serving matters to you, our water-mix shakes and the Cream of Pea soup are the lowest in the range.
Why lactose is different. The sugar in milk is lactose. Lactose has a smaller and slower effect on blood glucose than free sugars like sucrose or glucose, so a label showing 23g of sugars where most of it is lactose is not the same thing nutritionally as the same figure from added sugar. The “of which sugars” line on a food label puts them in the same column; their effect on blood glucose isn’t the same.
On a total diet replacement plan, the day’s totals are set by the plan. If you are following the Total Plan, every meal is one of the same regulated products, and the day’s carbohydrate, sugars, fibre, protein and micronutrient totals are fixed by the plan — not by what you choose in a supermarket. That is different from how you would read sugar labels on a regular weekly shop. Your diabetes team should still review how a plan like this fits with any medication you take.
| Product | Made with | kcal | Carbs (g) | of which sugars (g) | Fibre (g) | Protein (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Bakewell / Tropical shake (54g) | water | 204 | 29.7 | 2.2 | 2.5 | 13.0 |
| Chocolate Hazelnut shake (53g) | water | 200 | 26.5 | 1.9 | 4.8 | 13.0 |
| Lemon Cheesecake shake (55g) | water | 201 | 23 | 8.5 | 5.7 | 19 |
| Caramel Biscuit / Chocolate Orange shake (55g) | water | 201 | 23 | 7.8–7.9 | 5.9–6.5 | 18 |
| Vanilla shake (34.5g) | 250ml skimmed milk | 212 | 24.6 | 23.5 | 2.5 | 20.7 |
| Café Latte shake (32.5g) | 250ml skimmed milk | 212 | 24.9 | 23.2 | 1.7 | 20.7 |
| Cream of Pea soup (54g) | water | 200 | 22.0 | 1.3 | 2.9 | 18.0 |
| Creamy Chicken soup (52g) | water | 201 | 19.4 | 7.6 | 2.8 | 16 |
| Vegetable soup (52g) | water | 203 | 19.5 | 8.3 | 2.4 | 16.2 |
Is a protein shake the same as a meal replacement?
No. A protein shake is a drink built around protein and is not formulated to replace a meal. A meal replacement is formulated to stand in for a meal, with set levels of vitamins, minerals, protein and energy under GB rules. For diabetes-focused weight loss, the two are not interchangeable.
“Meal replacement for weight control” is a defined category under the GB claims regime, with authorised claims and specific conditions of use (Regulation 432/2012 as amended by (EU) 2016/1413). Total diet replacement products — the kind used in the research further down this page — sit under separate composition rules, which in Great Britain are The Foods Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations 1997. Ordinary protein shakes are not regulated as either; they are foods or food supplements, and are not required to supply a meal’s worth of vitamins and minerals.
If you are managing type 2 diabetes and you want a shake as a meal, read the label for the conditions of use. If it tells you it is a meal replacement for weight control and lists the vitamins and minerals it supplies, that is a meal replacement. If it only tells you about protein, it isn’t.
What does the research say about weight loss and type 2 diabetes?
The DiRECT trial, published in the Lancet in 2018, found that losing substantial weight on a low-calorie total diet replacement plan put a share of participants into remission of type 2 diabetes. Later follow-ups showed the effect fading over time. Remission was more likely with greater weight loss and earlier after diagnosis, and it is not permanent for everyone.
The field uses “remission”, not “reversal” or “cure”, because remission describes an improvement that may not last and still needs monitoring. The international consensus report on this (Riddle et al., Diabetes Care, 2021) specifically avoided “cure” because it suggests nothing further needs watching.
The NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme, available across England since April 2024, is a 12-month programme built on the same approach: a short period of total diet replacement at 800–900 kcal a day, then stepped food reintroduction, then maintenance support. A real-world evaluation of the programme was published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in 2024.
Shake That Weight products weren’t used in any of these trials, and we’re not part of the NHS programme. The trials used other formula products — Counterweight-Plus in DiRECT, other commercially available formula products in DROPLET, and the NHS programme’s own commissioned providers — supplied inside a clinical programme with GP and coach support. Our own soups and shakes are formulated to the same GB regulations that cover those products: Regulation 432/2012 as amended by (EU) 2016/1413 for meal replacement, and the Foods Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations 1997 for total diet replacement.
What is the Newcastle diet?
The Newcastle diet is the informal name for the research protocol used by Professor Roy Taylor’s team at Newcastle University in the 2011 Counterpoint study: around 600 kcal a day for eight weeks — a liquid formula of about 510 kcal plus three portions of non-starchy vegetables. The later DiRECT trial used around 800 kcal.
Counterpoint was a small study — 11 adults with type 2 diabetes — designed to test a mechanism, not to recommend a diet to the public. The 800 kcal figure that circulates online comes from the DiRECT trial and the NHS Path to Remission programme, not from Counterpoint. If you have seen an 800 calorie version described as the Newcastle diet, that figure comes from the later DiRECT trial and the NHS programme, rather than the original 2011 study.
Our independent guide to the NHS programme itself covers eligibility and how to ask about a referral: the NHS soups and shakes diet.
How would a shake-based plan work?
A shake-based plan replaces your meals with nutritionally complete soups and shakes for a short, structured period, then steps you back onto ordinary food. Our Total Plan is 800 kcal a day and is intended for short-term use. The Maintenance Plan at 1,500 kcal a day is designed to help you keep weight off afterwards.
Before you order: if you take any medication for diabetes or blood pressure, talk to your GP, diabetes nurse or pharmacist first. Any changes to your medication are their call, not ours — in the DiRECT trial, diabetes and blood pressure medicines were adjusted by the participants’ GP practices under a clinical protocol, not by the participants themselves.
Total Plan — short-term. Four of our soups and shakes a day, giving you around 800 kcal, with over 20 vitamins and minerals and a protein level set for a meal replacement. Intended for a defined period of weight loss, not as a long-term way of eating.
Maintenance Plan — stepping back to food. 1,500 kcal a day, built around one of our shakes and ordinary meals, with the free MyJurnee app for daily habit support. Designed for keeping weight off after a weight-loss phase.
Our products are formulated to meet the conditions of use for the authorised “meal replacement for weight control” claims under Regulation 432/2012 as amended by (EU) 2016/1413, and comply with The Foods Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations 1997 — the GB regime for total food replacement.
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Are meal replacement shakes OK on metformin?
Can I do an 800 calorie plan if I’m on insulin?
Will meal replacement shakes spike my blood sugar?
What meal replacement shakes do the NHS use?
NHS providers delivering the Path to Remission Programme use their own commissioned products supplied through the programme — not products you can buy on the open market. Shake That Weight isn’t part of the NHS programme, and our products aren’t NHS-approved or NHS-endorsed. They are formulated to the same GB regulations for meal replacement and total diet replacement that cover the formulas the programme’s providers supply. Our independent guide to the programme is here: the NHS soups and shakes diet.
Can I use meal replacement shakes if I have prediabetes?
Can I do this if I take an SGLT2 inhibitor?
Do I have to subscribe?
How long does delivery take?
Standard shipping to mainland UK arrives in 2–5 working days and costs £3.50, free when you spend over £65. Express shipping is delivered in 1 working day when you order before 2:30pm on a weekday, for £4.95, free over £100. Standard shipping to Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands & Islands, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man takes 3–7 working days. All options are on our delivery page.