A study shows that people at high risk of type 2 diabetes that made intensive lifestyle changes aimed at modest weight loss reduced the rate of developing diabetes by 34 percent over 10 years, whereas those treated with the oral diabetes drug metformin rather than intensive lifestyle changes reduced the rate of developing diabetes by 18 percent after 10 years compared with a placebo.
About 24 million adults have diabetes in the United States, and up to 95 percent of them have type 2 diabetes. This type of diabetes is strongly associated with obesity, inactivity, family history of diabetes, history of gestational diabetes, impaired glucose metabolism and racial or ethnic background. The prevalence of diabetes has more than doubled in the last 30 years, due in large part to the upsurge in obesity. An additional 57 million overweight adults have glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet in the diabetic range, a condition that substantially raises the risk of a heart attack or stroke and of developing type 2 diabetes.
Researchers determined the results from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS), a 10-year follow-up study of patients who participated in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). The DPP was a three-year, randomized trial in more than 3,200 overweight or obese adults with elevated blood glucose levels, putting them at high risk to develop type 2 diabetes. Forty-five percent of participants were from minority groups disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes: African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and American Indians.
The DPP results showed that intensive lifestyle changes, including exercise, reducing calories and fat intake and frequent interaction with health-care professionals, reduced the development of type 2 diabetes by 58 percent after three years. Those assigned to two daily doses of metformin but no lifestyle changes reduced the development of the disease by 31 percent over the same period. Patients at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes who made lifestyle changes also had lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels.
“Changing one’s lifestyle to better health habits, including those aimed at reduced weight, a better diet and more exercise, will have long-term and sustained impact on overall health, at least in preventing diabetes and hopefully in preventing complications associated with diabetes and pre diabetes,” says Neil White, principal investigator of both studies. “Even if the weight loss is slight, it will have huge benefits.”
References:
1. The Lancet, 29 October 2009. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61457-4.
