The best and only way of preventing diabetes entirely is catching it early. There’s a condition which is know as pre-diabetes in which the body has started to develop insulin resistance and other symptoms of type two diabetes. If patients catch pre-diabetes before it becomes the full disease it’s possible to make the necessary lifestyle changes and actually prevent diabetes from occurring at all. The issue is the sheer amount of man hours it takes to coach people in the best ways of avoiding diabetes and the cost this incurs.
It’s been shown in successive studies that coaching on the best ways to lose weight and regular face to face meetings with a trainer or coach is extremely effective at defusing diabetes before it gets its hooks in. In face, there was a massive 58% reduction in pre-diabetes developing diabetes in a recent study which just goes to show how potent this methodology is. The issue again is man hours. There simply aren’t enough healthcare workers to get this help to everyone who needs it.
A new technique is being developed however. It’s based on the coaching but involves a DVD and then online support which should provide the same benefits of the direct interactions without costing nearly as much in terms of time and money spent.