(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Teaching people with higher than normal blood sugar
levels how to eat better and exercise more can significantly influence their
risk of developing diabetes.
In a study conducted among nearly 600 people in China over a 20 year period,
investigators found those who took part in group-based diet and exercise
programs were not only less likely to develop the disease but also enjoyed more
years without diabetes before coming down with the condition.
The investigation was a joint project between Chinese researchers and those from
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The participants were first
enrolled in 1986. All had impaired glucose tolerance, but the condition had yet
to progress to full diabetes. The subjects were assigned to either a control
group, a diet group, an exercise group, or a group that focused on both diet and
exercise.
By the 20-year follow up, 93 percent of the people in the control group had
diabetes, compared to 80 percent of those who took part in one of the
intervention groups. Intervention group participants who did end up with
diabetes got the disease an average of 3.6 years later than those in the control
group.
Writing in an accompanying editorial, investigators from Finland suggest more
should be done to offer lifestyle invention programs, both to people at risk for
the disease and people in the general population. “We propose that lifestyle
intervention should start much earlier, when people are normoglycaemic, to
achieve true primary prevention of type 2 diabetes and its main consequence,
cardiovascular disease. In this regard, both population-based strategies and
those targeted at high-risk groups should be applied.”
SOURCE: The Lancet, published online May 22, 2008
