What is the best treatment for pre-diabetes?
The good news is that treating pre-diabetes does not require expensive medical treatments. Losing a modest amount of weight — 5 to 10 percent of total body weight — through diet and moderate exercise, can reverse the trend and lessen the likelihood of developing diabetes. In fact, in studies conducted nationally and at the University of Pittsburgh, lifestyle changes were shown to be more effective than medication in preventing diabetes.
There needs to be an increased awareness that healthy behaviors, if adopted, can improve the length, quality and performance of our lives, families and companies. For example, only 8 percent of Americans eat five or more fruits or vegetables per day, are physically active 30 minutes or more per day, are within five pounds of their ideal body weight, don’t smoke, and consume less than one to two alcoholic drinks on average per day. That, by and large, is why we’re seeing an epidemic of pre-diabetes and diabetes.
Are there programs that can help people prevent diabetes?
Diabetes prevention programs can be effective when they identify persons at risk for diabetes and then link those people to a primary care physician who can provide the kind of support they will need to help them prevent getting this disease. These programs provide healthy lifestyle education for adults in the hospital’s community who have been identified as having risk factors for pre-diabetes. The programs include group lifestyle balance, nutrition education, smoking cessation, and exercise and fitness programs.
What can employers do about helping to stem pre-diabetes?
Where we live, learn, work and play are greater determinants of our health than our medical care. Where and how we are employed can create a strong positive or negative influence on how we feel about ourselves, and how we interact at home with our families and with others in our communities. Employers and employees need to create a ‘culture of health’ in the worksite, which supports healthy behaviors not only on the job, but also in the home.
For example, employers can ‘walk the walk’ as executives when it comes to their personal habits in healthy eating and being more active. Provide healthy choices in vending machines and cafeterias. Encourage the use of stairwells, ‘walking meetings’ and access to fitness activities. Reward healthy behaviors and publicly acknowledge employees who’ve succeeded in losing weight or tackling a fitness challenge. Implement worksite wellness programs and partner with your health plan to ensure the delivery of evidence-based clinical preventive services to employees and their families. Healthy behaviors improve health, reduce costs — and along the way, pre-diabetes.
Michael Parkinson, MD, is senior consultant in health and productivity, UPMC Health Plan. Reach him at (412) 454-5643 or [email protected].
