Michael Mosley's health battles he managed to reverse and one he couldn't fix (2024)

TV doctor Michael Mosley has sadly died while on holiday in Greece with his wife Clare Bailey. A search and rescue team discovered his body after a four-day hunt for the star

Michael Mosley has sadly died at the age of 67, after vanishing near a hiking trail on a picturesque Greek island.

His body has been found after a four-day search and rescue mission on the Greek island of Symi, where he was on holiday with his wife Dr Clare Bailey.

The TV doctor, 67, disappeared on Wednesday afternoon and when he never returned to his accommodation with his wife Dr Clare Bailey, she raised the alarm. An investigation by local authorities began with searches on Thursday and on Sunday morning Dr Mosley's remains were discovered, reportedly nearby a network of caves known locally as The Abyss.

Earlier this week, CCTV captured what is believed to be one of the last-known sightings of the This Morning star, walking with an umbrella next to the marina in the village of Pedi on Wednesday. The presenter's body was reportedly found with a purple umbrella nearby.

The TV doctor and his wife Clare had been staying in the picturesque Greek island of Symi and on Wednesday afternoon, he set off for a walk along St Nicholas Beach. Wife Clare, a former GP, raised the alarm after the nutrition expert failed to return after 7.30pm. On Friday, the radio presenter's four children flew out to Greece to try and help retrace his steps, and support their mother Clare.

The nutrition expert was best known for his work promoting intermittent fasting and the low-carb ketogenic diet, having written popular books and created a new health plan called The Fast 800. However many fans may not realise that he overcame some health difficulties of his own.

The doctor, who regularly appeared on This Morning, once revealed he too was not immune to health conditions as he was previously diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And at a time when Mosley was overweight, he had early signs of fatty liver disease.

But once he radicalised his diet, he managed to reverse it, along with his type 2 diabetes. Speaking with the Mirror earlier this year, the late star said: "Eleven years ago, when I discovered that I had type 2 diabetes, I also had a scan that revealed I had early signs of fatty liver disease. Both the diabetes and the fatty liver went away once I went on the 5:2 diet and lost 9kg."

It was when the diet guru met with Professor Mark Mattson, professor of neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University who has written more than 300 papers on intermittent fasting, he learned about the positive impacts of what became known as the 5:2 diet - where you eat normally for five days a week and cut your calories to around 800 for the other two days.

He said that he was told that if he was to reverse his diabetes, he would have to lose 5g of fat from the pancreas, but to do that, he needed to lose 10 per cent of his body weight, which he achieved. Following his success, he published The Fast Diet in 2013, which kick-started a health revolution.

Speaking about the change, wife Clare told The Times in April: "As a GP, I had been really quite sceptical that Michael could reverse his diabetes by losing weight. It was a major eye-opener for me. It's been incredibly rewarding and exciting. And there is still a long way to go."

Meanwhile, in one of Michael's documentaries about sleep, he also admitted he had chronic insomnia. "One of the best bits of advice I had when I was struggling with chronic insomnia was to get up at the same time each day and head outside into the morning light," the doctor said in his Radio 4 podcast series Sleep Well.

In a recent interview with SBS Food, he revealed the condition started in his late 30s. "[Back then] we had four children and I was working incredibly hard. So I started waking up at 3am, worrying about life. It never really got better."

Despite leaving his phone in the other room and using herbal remedies, his lifestyle changes didn't have much of an impact. But after he lost his weight, he said that his snoring reduced in turn, which helped him get a better night's sleep.

"Food and diet are very useful starting points. By improving your diet, you can improve your sleep. But whether it will cure your [chronic insomnia] is another matter," he added.