According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 80 million Americans are at risk for developing diabetes. Blood sugar and other metabolic measures are elevated in this population. A new study shows that pre-diabetes does not lead inexorably to frank diabetes. Aggressive intervention to control blood sugar can cut the likelihood of developing diabetes in half. Data from the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study show that people who had normal blood sugar control with exercise, diet or the medication metformin were 56% less likely than those in the study control group to be diagnosed with diabetes in the following 7 years.
[Lancet, online June 9, 2012]
The People's Perspective on Medicine