For those patients who are at high risk for developing Diabetes, a regular Exercise and diet program followed for six years aimed at preventing diabetes can help to keep this disease at bay for up to 14 years, studies show.
Published in the May 24 edition of The Lancet, the study shows hope for those at high risk of getting this disease who wish to take a preventative stance in a proactive manner. In the same edition, another study also reported the positive benefits of these proactive choices on diabetes prevention. A China based study focusing on the relation between an intensive
Insulin program and the regeneration of insulin producing cells also showed a positive benefit in patients recently diagnosed with Type 2, or adult onset, diabetes.
Lifestyle studies have taken place all over the world in regards to changes in diet and exercise and diabetes prevention. In all of these studies, a clear outcome was produced. An early change in lifestyle habits can prevent the onset of diabetes for many years. These changes include reducing the amount of simple sugars consumed and the adoption of a regular exercise program.
The trial reported in The Lancet included nearly 600 patients presenting with high blood glucose levels. These patients were given a group of changes falling into one of three categories. The first category focusing on diet, the second on exercise and the third a combination of both. A control group that had made no changes in lifestyle were also observed in the study.
During the trial, the patients were taught to reduce the amount of simple sugars in their diet through both food and alcohol restriction. Beginning in 1986, the diet and exercise plans were followed for six years. Fourteen years after the research, those same patients were once again observed.
During the six years the program was actively in place, the patients showed a reduction of 51% for contracted adult onset diabetes. Over the 20 year span of the research that reduction maintained a 43% status in contracting the disease.
The overall numbers after the final stages of the study concluded that 80% of the participants in the study who practiced changes in diet and exercise did not contract diabetes whereas 93% of the patients who did not participate contracted the disease. The participants with active lifestyle changes held off the diagnosis of diabetes for an average of 4 years longer than those who did not.
