Lifestyle Changes Really Do Work to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes: Study
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Diet and exercise can keep diabetes at bay for a decade, cutting the risk for the disease by more than a third in the most susceptible people, a new study finds.
About 11 percent of U.S. adults (24 million) have diabetes, mostly type 2, which is linked to poor diet and sedentary lifestyle. In addition, 57 million overweight adults have higher-than-normal blood sugar levels, which raise the risk of a heart attack or stroke and the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, researchers say.
But new research, published in the Oct. 29 online edition of The Lancet, shows that losing weight and exercising can delay or prevent the onset of diabetes more effectively than the prescription drug metformin or a placebo.
"Interventions that result in weight loss lower the risk of diabetes, and that lower risk appears to persist for a long period of time," said study author Dr. William C. Knowler of the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
For people who are at high risk of getting diabetes, losing weight "is clearly to be recommended," he said.
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