Diet for prediabetics could be key

People with pre-diabetes who lose ten per cent of their body weight within six months substantially reduce their chances of developing type 2 diabetes.
This is according to research conducted by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who based their conclusion on analysis from the Diabetes Prevention Program, which followed 3,000 obese and hyperglycemic people between 1996 and 1999.
Participants were separated into different groups, with some receiving lifestyle intervention and a diet plan, while others were prescribed drugs or a placebo.
Researchers concluded that those who started to do substantially more exercise – around 150 minutes a week – had an 85 per cent reduction in their diabetes risk level.
Subjects who were given drugs did not lose much weight, but they also saw their future chances of them developing the disorder reduce.
Professor Nisa Maruthur, who led the study, said: “Now we understand that we can see much of the benefit of losing that weight in those first six months when people are adjusting to a new way to eating and exercising.”