A joint report from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discusses how difficult it is for people with pre-diabetes to lose weight compared to the general population. However, the findings also state that even a modest amount of weight loss (5%) can have a substantial impact on reversing pre-diabetes.

In the two well-controlled studies that included a lifestyle intervention arm, substantial efforts were necessary to achieve only modest changes in weight and exercise, but those changes were sufficient to achieve an important reduction in the incidence of diabetes. In the Finnish study, weight loss averaged 9.2 lb at 1 year, 7.7 lb after 2 years, and 4.6 lb after 5 years (31,53); the exercise component of the intervention called for “moderate exercise” of 30 min/day. In the DPP (33), the lifestyle group lost ∼12 lb at 2 years and 9 lb at 3 years (mean weight loss for the study duration was about 12 lb or 6% of initial body weight). In both of these studies, most of the participants were obese (BMI >30 kg/m2).

Read the full report: Prevention or Delay of Type 2 Diabetes