Proof diet can beat diabetes Health drive halves disease incidence

THE number of people with pre-diabetes who go on to develop the full disease has halved over the past two decades, a major study has found.

The dramatic decline comes after a drive to encourage patients to eat a healthier diet and take more exercise.

It also occurred despite increasing numbers having pre-diabetes – raised blood sugars which have not reached diabetic levels.

Researchers found the percentage who went on to suffer type 2 diabetes dropped from 8% to 4% between 2000 and 2014.

The academics at the University

of Manchester studied data on 148,363 people in the UK with pre-diabetes to see how quickly they all went on to develop type 2 diabetes.

From 2000 to 2015, 1.6% had developed the illness after a month, 4.2% after six months and 20.4% after four years.

Diagnosis of pre-diabetes became more common over time, rising from 0.07% of the population in 2000 to 1.85% in 2015, said the study in BMJ Open journal.

But fewer converted to type 2 diabetes, with the annual rate falling from 8% in 2000 to 4% in 2014. The number of people with diabetes in Ireland is estimated at around 226,000.

Dr Rathi Ravindrarajah, of the university, said: ‘We are not certain why but we suspect it’s good preventative work and changing definitions of nondiabetic hyperglycaemia. This sample is large enough to give a good representation of what is going on.’

People with pre-diabetes are usually asymptomatic but will often be clinically obese. Treatment usually includes advice on healthy diet and exercise while some patients are also prescribed the drug Metformin, a fairly common treatment for type 2 diabetes.

Dr Ravindrarajah said: ‘Our figures show that the number of these people with pre-diabetes/ NDH who go on to develop Type 2 Diabetes is falling.

‘Diabetic preventing programmes might need to target the individuals who are at higher risk of conversion to Type 2 diabetes, as identified in this study.’

Good preventative work helps