Keep Moving to Avoid Diabetes

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was a landmark study released in 2002 that showed that an intensive lifestyle intervention with diet and exercise reduced the rate of new onset diabetes by 58% in high risk individuals over a 3 year period. Now, a study released online in the Lancet provides long term follow up of many of these research participants. Not surprising to the SL, suppression the onset of diabetes persisted for up to 10 years in those that elected to carry on with the lifestyle intervention. Moreover, those that were previously assigned to placebo intervention or the anti-diabetic drug metformin and who "crossed-over" to the lifestyle intervention program achieved a similar protective effect. Bottom line: it's tough to develop diabetes if you control your weight and exercise regularly.