‘Two key aspects’ to reducing diabetes risk, says expert hoping to reverse diagnosis in 40- and 50-year-olds

Recognizing that genetics and the ticking of the age clock are factors beyond our control, he was quick to comfort those who worried about an inevitable date with diabetes.

In an insightful discussion on the Zoe podcast, Professor Naveed Sattar sounded the alarm about type 2 diabetes, but also gave some positive news for middle-aged people. The University of Glasgow metabolism expert offered a glimmer of hope, revealing that simple lifestyle changes could dramatically improve your chances of beating the sugar disease, even for those on the brink of prediabetes.

Professor Sattar gave his top tips for avoiding diabetes: “If you want to reduce your risk of diabetes, the key things are to maintain a healthy weight and to stay relatively physically active. Those are the two main things.”

Acknowledging that genetics and the ticking clock of age are factors beyond our control, he was quick to comfort those worried about facing diabetes, insisting that playing the long game could work wonders. Delaying diagnosis, even for a few years, can make all the difference.

To put things in perspective, the professor shared his own health strategy: “I’m 56 now, if I can delay the development of diabetes until I’m 75, I’ll be a lot less worried. Because if my sugar starts to rise at that point, I won’t have many years for that sugar to cause damage. High sugar doesn’t cause a lot of damage right away, it takes 5, 10, 15 years.”

When Zoe CEO Jonathan Wolf playfully asked if that meant you could afford to “eat chocolate croissants all day” at 75, Professor Sattar clarified: “I wouldn’t necessarily say that, but I know that diabetes won’t have a major impact on my life expectancy, if any. I won’t need to have serious eye disease, kidney disease or nerve disease.”

For people in their 40s and 50s who are on the verge of developing diabetes, Professor Sattar offered a glimmer of hope, suggesting that “small, sustainable lifestyle changes” can significantly delay the onset of the disease, provided they lead to either “improving your muscle mass or reducing your weight and ectopic fat enough to relieve your blood sugar control mechanisms”.

Losing weight quickly is not always the answer, the expert said. He said maintaining your current weight while turning some of the fat into muscle, or simply losing a few pounds and keeping them off with regular exercise, can be effective strategies. By following these guidelines, Professor Sattar said it is possible to “delay diabetes by up to 10 years… or even return blood sugar levels to normal.”

Delving into the intricacies of type 2 diabetes, a health expert pointed out that vulnerability to the disease increases with age. He also highlighted crucial warning signs for younger individuals at risk, saying: “The younger you develop diabetes, the more toxic a disease it is. When you’re younger, you tend to have bigger muscles and your pancreas is healthier. In other words, to overcome your increased buffering capacity, you have to stress the system more by putting more fat in the wrong places.”