Diabetes News:

Changes in Diet, Exercise Could Cut Diabetes Risk for 10 Million Overweight Americans

At least 10 million overweight Americans could sharply cut their risk of developing diabetes by making modest diet changes and engaging in moderate exercise, according to a major government study.

Government researchers halted a large diabetes-prevention study a year ahead of schedule after it became clear that what they suspected is true: losing weight and exercising can effectively delay diabetes in a wide range of overweight men and women on the brink of having full-blown diabetes

"This good news couldn't come at a better time," said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson.

An estimated 16 million people in the United States have Type 2 or adult onset diabetes, a chronic disease of the pancreas that causes blood sugar levels to soar and strikes 800,000 people annually.

Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 95 percent of cases in the United States, is the leading cause of kidney failure, limb amputations and new blindness in adults. It also contributes to heart disease and stroke, two major killers.

The three-year study involved 3,234 adults, ages 25 to 85, all of whom had a condition called impaired glucose tolerance, a diminished ability to control blood sugar levels that is considered a step away from having diabetes.

Participants were randomly assigned to different groups: a lifestyle group that received personal, intensive diet and exercise advice to reduce body weight by 7 percent; a group that took metformin, a drug approved for treating type 2 diabetes, and that was given information about the importance of weight loss and exercise; and a control group that took a placebo and also received general diet and exercise advice.

Participants in the lifestyle group reduced their risk of developing diabetes by a striking 58 percent, while the reduction in risk among those 60 and older was even greater: 71 percent.

The participants in the lifestyle group limited food intake to 1,200 to 1,800 calories a day and reduced fat intake to 25 percent of total calories. They also exercised at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, mostly by walking briskly.

Source: Medical Week staff, week of August 12, 2001