New Delhi: A long-term study has found that adopting a healthy lifestyle is more effective than taking the anti-diabetes drug metformin in reducing the onset of type 2 diabetes. The US Diabetes Prevention Program, launched in 1996, tracked 3,234 patients with prediabetes from 30 institutions across 22 states to compare the effects of lifestyle changes and metformin.
Researchers from The University of New Mexico reported that lifestyle interventions such as weight loss and increased physical activity led to a 58 percent reduction in the development of type 2 diabetes after the first three years. In comparison, metformin use resulted in a 31 percent reduction during the same period. Over the longer term, lifestyle changes lowered diabetes risk by 24 percent, while metformin reduced it by 17 percent.
“The data suggests that those people who didn’t get diabetes also didn’t get diabetes after 22 years,” said Vallabh Raj Shah, professor emeritus at The University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine.
Participants who followed the lifestyle modification program experienced an additional 3.5 years without diabetes, whereas those who took metformin gained an extra 2.5 years free of the disease.
“Within three years (since the study started), they had to stop the study because lifestyle was better than metformin. That means lifestyle, which everybody is banking on, is more effective that is the news,” Shah added.
The findings, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, highlight the durability of lifestyle changes in preventing diabetes. The study emphasizes the importance of diet and exercise in managing prediabetes and reducing long-term risk.
During follow-up, compared with placebo, the incidence rate of diabetes was reduced in the intensive lifestyle intervention group by 24 percent, and in the metformin group by 17 percent, with median diabetes-free survival increasing by 3.5 years and 2.5 years, respectively.
This study reinforces the value of healthy lifestyle choices as a key strategy in diabetes prevention over medication alone.
(With inputs from PTI)
