Prediabetes is a condition that precedes type 2 diabetes and increases the risk of heart attack, kidney and eye disease, and several types of cancer. Currently, there is no approved drug therapy for prediabetes available. Scientists at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) now show how and by which mechanisms prediabetes can be brought into remission, i.e. into a state in which blood glucose levels return to normal. The multicenter study of the DZD also shows that remission of prediabetes protects against type 2 diabetes and is associated with better kidney and vascular function in the long term. Interestingly, the underlying mechanisms are different from those in type 2 diabetes remission, the researchers report in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
People with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of heart attack, kidney disease and stroke, and a higher mortality risk. Type 2 diabetes was thought to be irreversible until a few years ago. We now know that type 2 diabetes can be put into remission in a significant number of individuals through substantial weight loss. However, this remission rarely lasts as most people typically develop type 2 diabetes again within a few years.
We aimed to explore the feasibility of commencing earlier and implementing preventive measures already at a stage that precedes type 2 diabetes, namely prediabetes, with the aim of reversing it.”
Prof. Dr. Andreas Birkenfeld, Senior Author, Medical Director of Medical Clinic IV at Tübingen University Hospital, and Director of the Institute for Diabetes