Diet and exercise can reduce the risk of contracting diabetes by more than a third in susceptible people according to a new study published in The Lancet.

A diabetes prevention programme carried out by Dr William Knowler of the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has revealed that a combination of regular exercise and weight loss more effectively delays or prevents the onset of diabetes than prescription drugs.

The three-year investigation involving around 3,000 overweight adults with elevated blood sugar levels randomly assigned to lifestyle changes, the drug metformin or a placebo found that the group prescribed a diet combined with regular exercise reduced their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 58 per cent compared with the placebo group.

Those prescribed metformin had only a 31 per cent reduction compared with those on the placebo.

An accompanying editorial written by diabetes specialist Dr Anoop Misra stated: "There seems to be no short cut, and a persistent and prolonged intensive lifestyle intervention seems to be the most effective way to travel on it."