TY - JOUR T1 - The prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 470 LP - 474 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.3-5-470 VL - 3 IS - 5 AU - Melanie J Davies Y1 - 2003/09/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/3/5/470.abstract N2 - There is a worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes, with numbers predicted to reach over 210 million by the year 2010. Important risk factors for type 2 diabetes are obesity, physical inactivity and dietary factors. Recent evidence shows that type 2 diabetes can certainly be delayed, and possibly prevented, by intensive lifestyle intervention, and therapies including acarbose, metformin, orlistat and the glitazones in selected populations. However, the UK has not had a successful record in trials which aim to prevent diabetes, and therefore implementation of effective and successful intensive lifestyle intervention to prevent diabetes may prove difficult in the UK. Other ‘non-glucose lowering’ agents, such as statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, may have a role to play in the prevention of diabetes. ER -