The Daily Walk or the Daily Pill?

Healthy nutrition, weight control, and physical activity—if your patients are like mine, it is an ongoing battle, and often a losing one, to induce them to include these cornerstones of treatment in their diabetes management. All too often, patients rely on their medications to maintain glycemic control and disregard the potential benefits of making lifestyle changes. Developing better daily habits and routines offers the promise of more benefits than just improved glycemic control, including enhanced cardiovascular fitness and reduced cardiovascular risk.

For patients who are at particular risk for diabetes, is the possibility of preventing or delaying the disease a sufficient motivator to exercise and eat right? The results of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) for type 2 diabetes1 were published last year and are reviewed in this issue’s …