Reverse pre-diabetes
You CAN reverse pre-diabetes and prevent its progression to type 2 diabetes. More than one in three adults has pre-diabetes–and 90% of them are unaware.
You may not realize that health complications start to develop at the early stage of pre-diabetes, long before it progresses to type 2 diabetes, which is an independent risk factor for heart and kidney disease. That’s why it’s important to understand your risk factors for diabetes and take action now.
Risk factors for diabetes include overweight or obesity, a family history of diabetes, a prior diagnosis of gestational diabetes, hypertension or tobacco use.
Fortunately, the progression of pre-diabetes to type 2 diabetes has been extensively researched, and we have strong evidence of lifestyle interventions that we can practice every day to prevent a new diagnosis of diabetes.
The Diabetes Prevention Program
The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), was a five-year-long (1996-2001) research study supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The DPP was the first randomized clinical trial (the gold standard) of more than 3,000 adults with pre-diabetes that showed that the incidence of diabetes was reduced by 58% with intensive lifestyle intervention, and by 31% with metformin, compared with a placebo.
The key lifestyle goals assigned to program participants:
- Lose 5–7% of body weight within the first six months of the program.
- Participate in at least 150 minutes weekly of moderate physical activity.
- Adopt an evidence-based nutrition plan such as the Mediterranean eating pattern and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
DPP long-term health outcomes
Two DPP follow-up studies, completed at 10 and 15 years, found long-term health improvements as a result of lifestyle intervention, which included 16 nutrition coaching sessions delivered over 24 weeks.
At 10 years, program participants who received the lifestyle intervention were diagnosed with diabetes at a 34% lower rate than those who did not.
And 15 years later, program participants who received the intensive lifestyle intervention were diagnosed with diabetes at a 27% lower rate.
Three steps to reverse pre-diabetes
Research shows that people who lose just 5 to 7% of their body weight, meet physical activity guidelines and eat nutritious foods can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes in half. Great evidence for ditching that 30-day diet promising fast results that don’t last!
Many people believe they must reach their ultimate goal weight before they see health improvements, but the evidence shows that we can start to feel better even sooner by taking small steps toward our goals.
Which of the three lifestyle intervention goals listed above can you work on today?
Want to learn whether you might be at risk for pre-diabetes?
Click HERE to take the quiz!