A recent study published in the PLOS Medicine journal has shed light on how individuals with prediabetes can significantly reduce their risk of death and health complications by delaying the onset of diabetes.
Nutrition expert Mark Gilbert explained that this finding is not unexpected and outlined ways in which patients can prevent the progression of the disease.
Prediabetes, also known as impaired glucose tolerance, is characterised by blood sugar levels that are higher than normal but not high enough to warrant a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
This condition typically presents fewer side effects and symptoms than diabetes and can often be reversed through significant lifestyle changes.
The groundbreaking study, led by Guangwei Li from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, found that the increased risk of death, disability and health complications associated with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis can be substantially reduced if individuals with prediabetes can delay their diagnosis by four years.
The research, which analysed the health outcomes of 540 prediabetic participants following certain lifestyle interventions over a 30-year period, demonstrated that this four-year gap between becoming prediabetic and being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes significantly lowered the risk of death or cardiovascular events among participants.
The research singles out a crucial four-year “threshold”, beyond which delaying the progression from prediabetes to full-blown diabetes seems to benefit patients greatly, the authors explain.
They urge an approach of “preventative management for diabetes and diabetes-related vascular complications” for those diagnosed with prediabetes.
Nutritionist Mark Gilbert isn’t surprised by these findings. Highlighting the necessary lifestyle changes to evade a diabetes diagnosis, he reveals that one highly effective treatment plan includes the 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan.
This bespoke meal planning strategy has been hailed as the “leading dietary intervention for type-2 diabetes prevention”.
Drawing on specific results from one study using this diet, Mark points out that a third of prediabetics were “able to reverse their condition in only eight weeks”.
Along with a good diet and regular exercise long established ways of preventing type 2 diabetes or even reversing prediabetic conditions giving up smoking and cutting down on alcohol are seen as beneficial paths to dodging a definitive diabetes diagnosis.