The study suggests that weight loss by just a few kilograms almost halves the risk of diabetes



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Losing a few pounds of weight nearly halves people’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.

A large study, conducted by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and the University of East Anglia, found that providing support to help people with prediabetes make small changes to their lifestyle, diet and physical activity can reduce the risk of them developing the condition. .

According to the research, support for making modest lifestyle changes, including losing two to three kilograms of weight and increasing physical activity over two years, reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 40- 47%.

Researchers say there are around eight million people with prediabetes in the UK and 4.5 million have already developed type 2 diabetes.

The results, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, come from the Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study (NDPS).

The NDPS clinical trial lasted eight years and involved more than 1,000 people with high-risk prediabetes for developing type 2 diabetes.

The study tested a simple lifestyle intervention, which helped people make small, achievable lifestyle changes that led to modest weight loss and increased physical activity.

These changes were maintained for at least two years and the lost weight was not restored.

Professor Mike Sampson, NDPS lead researcher and diabetes consultant at NNUH, said: ‘We are delighted with the results of this study, as until now no one was very sure that a real-world lifestyle program would prevent diabetes by type 2 in the prediabetes population we have studied, as there have been no clinical studies to prove this.

“We have now shown a significant effect in the prevention of type 2 diabetes and we can be very optimistic that even modest weight loss and increased physical activity, in real-world programs like this one have a big effect on the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes.

“This is really great news for the eight million people in the UK diagnosed with prediabetes.

“The results of this study demonstrate that diabetes prevention is possible in the same prediabetes populations treated in the NHS National Diabetes Prevention Program.

“This is important to know, as clinical methods for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes have changed a lot in recent years.”

The NDPS study was conducted between 2011 and 2018 and worked with 135 doctors’ practices in the east of England and found 144,000 people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

At screening sites across eastern England, 13,000 of these people then had a fasting glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) blood test to detect prediabetes.

More than 1,000 people with prediabetes were then placed in a randomized controlled trial, testing a pragmatic real-world lifestyle intervention, compared to a control group, with an average follow-up of just over two years.

NDPS co-researcher Professor Max Bachmann, of the UEA Norwich Medical School, said: “The NDPS intervention was delivered in groups which was much less expensive than individual-focused interventions that have previously been shown to be effective. in optimal conditions.

“For every 11 people who received NDPS surgery, one person was prevented from contracting type 2 diabetes, which is a real breakthrough.”

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