Research
Energy balance
Lifestyle interventions involving diet and exercise are more effective than metformin in preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals.
If you are at high risk for diabetes, lifestyle changes are your best defense. Aim to lose 7% of your body weight and get 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. This approach is significantly more effective at preventing diabetes than taking metformin alone.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
Diabetes incidence was 58% lower in the lifestyle intervention group and 31% lower in the metformin group than in the placebo group, and it was 39% lower in the lifestyle intervention group than in the metformin group.
Why this rating
Based on the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a high-quality RCT.
Source
Current review of intervention studies on obesity and the role of physical activity in weight control
Yoshio Nakata et al. · The Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine · 2015
DOI 10.7600/jpfsm.4.321
narrative_reviewCited 4×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Intensive lifestyle interventions combining caloric restriction and physical activity significantly reduce body weight and improve metabolic risk factors in overweight and obese adults, although they may not significantly reduce major cardiovascular events compared to standard diabetes support.Strong
- Prescribed physical activity interventions alone, without dietary restriction, do not significantly influence weight loss outcomes in overweight adults.Good
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