The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes study has proved that moderate diet and exercise are the most effective ways to reduce the risk of type II diabetes.

The study involved more than 3,000 people considered at high risk for developing diabetes II because they were overweight and had higher than normal blood-glucose levels.

Dr. Charles M. Clark, Jr.

Doctor Charles Clark Junior, a diabetes expert said the participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group followed an intensive diet and exercise program. Another received diabetes II medication called "medformin. The third received standard medical advice about the disease and a placebo.

Dr. Clark said that the group that exercised and dieted had the best results in preventing diabetes. "They were walking on average about a half-hour a day, five days a week," he said. "This prevented in these people the conversion to diabetes in 58 percent. That is well over half the people who we would have predicted to develop diabetes and who did as a matter of fact develop diabetes in the control group. It's also worth pointing out that the 'metformin' group had a decrease of about a third in the development of diabetes."

The study found that people who are at risk of developing Type II diabetes may lower by more than 50 percent their risk of developing the disease by exercising and eating a healthy diet. Researchers also say that the oral diabetes drug "metformin" can reduce diabetes II risk by 30 percent.

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