Weight loss strategies work in
people with pre-Diabetes
January 6, 2005
By Becky Ham
Adults with pre-diabetes can lose up to 3 percent of
their body weight using diet, exercise and behavioral
strategies, according to a systematic review of studies
that analyzed weight-loss strategies for pre-diabetics.
Weight loss is recognized as one of the better ways
to keep pre-diabetes from turning into full-blown diabetes,
experts say.
In their examination of nine studies that included
a total of 5,168 participants, Susan L. Norris, M.D.,
M.P.H., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and colleagues found that pre-diabetics using weight-loss
interventions could drop between 2 and 3 kilograms,
or four to six pounds, in one to two years. The review
is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“Although the weight loss demonstrated in this
review is small, even modest loss in general populations
may have health benefits,” Norris says.
People with pre-diabetes have impaired glucose tolerance
that doesn’t quite rise to the level of a diabetes
diagnosis, although the pre-diabetes condition can be
“an important risk factor for the development
of type 2 diabetes,” Norris says. Pre-diabetes
affects almost 12 million overweight people ages 45
to 74 in the United States.
Norris and colleagues examined nine studies on weight-loss
interventions among overweight and obese people with
pre-diabetes. All of the studies were randomized control
trials, the “gold standard” of medical research.
Of the five studies that examined how these interventions
affected the development of diabetes, three showed a
significant decrease in the incidence of the disease,
the researchers found.
Overall, the interventions decreased blood sugar levels,
blood pressure and cholesterol levels slightly among
pre-diabetics, although not significantly more than
in those who did not participate in the interventions.
Pre-diabetics who had frequent contacts with the health
care workers providing the diet or exercise advice and
who kept up with the intervention were most likely to
lose
weight, Norris and colleagues conclude.
Source:www.hbns.org
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