From The October 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News

Nutrition Counseling May Prevent Diabetes

Diabetes in high-risk patients can be prevented by changing lifestyle factors, according to a five-year study conducted by Jaakko Tuomilehto, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki. The Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study Group studied 522 people, ages 40 to 65, who were overweight (body mass index 25) with impaired glucose tolerance. Impaired glucose tolerance, a precursor to diabetes, often occurs years before overt diabetes is diagnosed. It is defined as plasma glucose levels of 140 to 200 mg/dl after a 75 g glucose load and fasting glucose of 140 mg/dl.

The 257 subjects in the control group were given oral and written instructions for their annual diet and exercise program. The 265 subjects in the intervention group received medical nutrition therapy by the Finnish equivalent of a registered dietitian (consisting of seven visits in the first year and four annual visits thereafter), including individual exercise guidance and resistance-training sessions.

The researchers had five goals for the intervention group: 5 percent weight reduction, total fat from 30 percent of their daily calories, saturated fat from 10 percent of their daily calories, fiber intake of 50 g/1,000 calories or more, and 30 minutes of moderate exercise daily.

There was a direct correlation between lifestyle change and risk reduction. In the intervention group, 38 percent of the subjects who did not achieve any of the goals became diabetic. On the other hand, 49 percent of the intervention group and 15 percent of the control group subjects achieved four or five of the goals—none of these participants developed diabetes. Achieving any of the goals decreased their risk. People who lost weight reduced their diabetes risk by more than 50 percent, as did those who did not lose weight but exercised regularly. The cumulative incidence of diabetes was 14 percent in the control group and 6 percent in the intervention group.

The incidence of type II diabetes in both adults and children is growing. If people at risk for diabetes are identified and are given professional nutrition counseling, the disease may be averted.

—The New England Journal of Medicine
2001 May 3;344(18):1343-50.