A Change Would Do You Good
Want to reduce your risk of diabetes down the road? Don’t rely on pills alone.
In addition to any medications your doctor prescribes, you should also … wait for it … eat right and exercise. Lifestyle modifications are better at preventing diabetes among high-risk individuals than medications alone, found researchers from the Emory School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health.
Global health researcher Karla Galaviz and endocrinologist J. Sonya Haw looked at the long-term effectiveness of several diabetes prevention strategies. The study, published online in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that lifestyle changes combining diet and physical activity achieved the largest risk reductions; for medications, those that regulated weight loss and insulin-sensitizing agents had the largest risk reductions. “The effect of medications was short lived, whereas the effect of lifestyle modification was sustained for several years,” Haw says.
Related Story
"Lifestyle changes more effective than drugs for diabetes prevention long-term, study finds" (Nov. 7, 2017)
