Intensive Lifestyle Intervention for Overweight Patients with Diabetes — A Randomized Trial

We routinely advise lifestyle modification — particularly diet and exercise — for overweight patients with diabetes. In the NIH-supported Look AHEAD study, researchers aimed to show that intensive lifestyle change improves cardiovascular outcomes for these patients.

About 5000 overweight or obese patients with type 2 diabetes were assigned randomly to one of two groups. Those assigned to intensive lifestyle intervention received weekly counseling on diet and exercise (both individually and in groups) for the first 6 months, followed by monthly contact through 4 years; the goal was to lose 10% of body weight. The control intervention consisted only of three group sessions annually for 4 years. At baseline, median patient age and duration of d…