The global rise in type 2 diabetes cases is a significant public health issue, with over 6% of adults currently affected — a figure expected to increase to around 7% by 2030.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that type 2 diabetes is largely preventable. Key prevention strategies include maintaining a healthy body weight and engaging in regular physical activity, which can help stop prediabetes — a condition marked by elevated blood sugar and insulin resistance — from progressing to full diabetes.

A recent study published in Cardiovascular Diabetology – Endocrinology Reports adds to the growing evidence that exercise plays a crucial role in reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The findings suggest that engaging in just over two hours of exercise per week may help individuals with prediabetes reverse the condition and prevent it from advancing.

Dr David Cutler, a board-certified family medicine physician at Providence Saint John’s Health Centre in Santa Monica, CA, who was not involved in the study, explained this in an interview with Medical News Today:

“The health impact of having diabetes is profound. There is increased risk of almost every category of disease: heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, vascular disease, blindness, and infection. These ailments lead to earlier death and markedly impaired quality of life prior to death for diabetics. While prediabetes carries little of these increased risks, it is a warning because we know that 25–50% of prediabetics will develop diabetes. So, the smart thing to do is prevent prediabetes or reverse it if it is already present.”

Engaging in over 150 minutes of physical activity per week significantly increased the chances of reversing prediabetes, making individuals four times more likely to return to normal blood sugar levels.

“The study clearly reinforces what physicians have been telling patients for a long time: Diet, weight control and exercise are the key ingredients to a long and healthy life. And now you can have a concrete target to shoot for, 150 minutes of exercise per week,” said Cutler.

In addition to regular exercise, maintaining HbA1c levels below 6.0% was identified by researchers as a key factor in boosting the likelihood of reversing prediabetes.