Lifestyle interventions in diabetes – where are we now?

The epidemics of type 2 diabetes, no longer involving exclusively western countries, is largely due to a combination of unhealthy lifestyles and might be corrected by healthy diet and physical activity. Following the results of the large intervention trials on diabetes prevention, the focus is now on diabetes treatment. Here, the very large number of cases to be treated and the paucity of resources may be an insurmountable limit for most diabetes unit. As well as in different Countries, also in Italy we do have successful experiences published in the literature. They have been carried out either by in-house developed programs or by the use of tools favoring behavior changes. The use of prescriptive diet, as also observed in the treatment of obesity, does not guarantee long-term adherence and weight loss maintenance.