American researchers have found that a careful diet with regular exercise can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes by up to a decade.
The study published in The Lancet and conducted by the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, involved 3,000 overweight people who took part in a three year diabetes prevention programme.
The study was split into three groups of people, the first group were assigned a diet and exercise programme, the second group were given the drug metformin (used to treat diabetes) and the third group were given a placebo.
The group following the diet and exercise programme reaped the most benefit in terms of delaying the onset of diabetes when they were monitored ten years later. The diet aimed at achieving a 7 percent weight loss combined with half an hour of exercise per week reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent, a third lower than the placebo group.
All three groups were given ongoing lifestyle coaching once the study had come to an end and both the metformin and placebo group with the help of a careful diet and exercise also saw the rate of diabetes fall.