Weight Loss Has Significant Impact On Diabetes Risk

Patients with pre-diabetes who lost 10% or more of their body weight within the first 6 months of their diagnosis reduced their 3-year risk for developing diabetes by 85%, according to a review of the multicenter Diabetes Prevention Program.

“We have known for some time that the greater the weight loss, the lower your risk of diabetes,” Nisa Maruthur, MD, MHS, study researcher and assistant professor in the division of general internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Now we understand that we can see much of the benefit of losing that weight in those first 6 months when people are adjusting to a new way to eating and exercising.”

The 3,041 participants with hyperglycemia were randomly assigned to intensive lifestyle modification (n=1,108), metformin (n=1,036) or placebo (n=987). Those in the lifestyle arm participated in individual counseling for 6 months, followed by group counseling. The goals of the intervention were at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week and an overall 7% or more reduction in weight.

Participants in the metformin group received 850 mg daily and those in the control group took placebo twice daily. Both groups participated in annual lifestyle counseling sessions.
At 6-month follow-up, 92% of the lifestyle group lost a mean weight of 7.2%; more than 25% of the metformin group lost a mean of 2.4%; and nearly 50% of the placebo group gained weight, with a mean loss of 0.4%.

Read the full article at healio.com