A 10-year study reveals, one can prevent diabetes, simply by leading a healthy lifestyle and which can be more effective than taking medication like Metformin.

Eating a healthy balanced diet and ensuring 30-minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity every day, has been found to significantly reduce one’s chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

For the study, US scientists followed 3,000-people at high risk of diabetes and who had taken part in a 3-year diabetes prevention study.

The overweight participants with high blood sugar levels were split into three groups, with the first group following a diet and exercise programme that helped them lose weight. The second group was given Metformin for controlling their blood sugar levels, while the third group was given placebos. The benefits of lifestyle changes were found to be greatest in older people, aged between 60 and 85-years.

The study found lifestyle changes to be the most effective in diabetes prevention, with the diet and exercise group reducing their rate of diabetes by 58%. The group taking Metformin reduced it by 31%, compared to the group taking placebos, with the scientists trying to discover whether these effects lasted in the longer term.