MINNEAPOLIS, April 15, 2008—People in three Minnesota communities are taking part in a pilot program sponsored by the state to see if intensive group intervention with people diagnosed as prediabetic can prevent or delay the onset of diabetes.

A report on the program appeared in yesterday's West Central Tribune that described how twelve participants in Willmar have lost 128 pounds together.

One participant has reduced by half the the amount of blood pressure medication he takes. Another participant has been taking exercise walks during the work day.

Kara Ellwood, health enhancement coordinator at the Kandiyohi County Area Family YMCA, uses a variety of techniques to teach participants about healthy living with high blood sugar. She piled food on a tray to show them how much good food a half pound of licorice equaled. 

Willmar, Rochester, and West St. Paul are the three communities chosen for the study through the Steps to a Healthier Minnesota initiative. The goal is to teach prediabetic people how to turn things around in their lives, so they don't progress to actual diabetes.

One of the most widely cited studies, the Diabetes Prevention Program, found that with intensive individual counseling on nutrition and physical activity, people with prediabetes could reduce their three-year risk of developing diabetes by up to 58 percent. 

At the halfway mark, the project appears to be an an effective and affordable means of coaxing people with prediabetes to alter their lifestyles.

Two of the participants have already met one of the program goals of losing 7 percent of their body weight, and a few more are close to that
goal. 

The program also helps participants increase their physical activity by 30 minutes each week, until they reach two and a half hours of activity a week.

Data are being collected and forwarded to the Minnesota Department of Health to track the program’s effectiveness.

Participants will be re-evaluated after 18 months to see if they maintain their lifestyle changes after the program concludes.

West Central Tribune article