Lifestyle intervention can delay onset of type 2 diabetes

A 20-year follow up study from China, published in this week's edition of The Lancet shows that lifestyle intervention can indeed prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. These results come from the China Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study. Originally, 33 clinics were randomly chosen to provide 577 men and women with impaired glucose tolerance with diet, exercise, combined or control interventions. After six years the study showed that the incidence of type 2 diabetes 31%, 46% or 42% lower than in the control group for diet, exercise and combined interventions respectively. And in the group who followed a combination of diet and exercise, the reduction in diabetes incidence persisted, with the same risk reduction as during the intervention period. These results are similar to those found in a Finnish study that took place over seven years.

The population in this study had a particularly high overall risk of diabetes - 93% of the control participants and 80% pf the intervention group became diabetic over 20 years. A commentary accompanying the article suggests that prevention measures need to start much earlier - before impaired glucose tolerance has occured - to make a dent in the population incidence of type 2 diabetes.