Oct 01, 2025
New key to prediabetes: blood sugar levels more important than body weight
According to the study, exercise and a balanced diet have a positive effect on blood sugar, regardless of whether weight is reduced.
Scientists at the Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus of Dresden University of Technology, in collaboration with colleagues from the transCampus network of TU Dresden and the King’s College London, have gained new insights into the prevention of type 2 diabetes. An analysis of a comprehensive long-term study conducted by the University Hospital of Tübingen, published on September 29 in the journal Nature Medicine, shows that normalizing elevated blood sugar levels can significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of weight loss. It has been demonstrated that individuals with prediabetes who have achieved a normalisation of their blood sugar levels through lifestyle modifications exhibit a risk reduction of up to 71% with respect to the development of type 2 diabetes within a period of nine years. This is true even if the person's body weight remained unchanged or increased.
Professor Birkenfeld, the corresponding author and director of the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM) Helmholtz Munich at the University Hospital of Tübingen and transCampus professor, summarises that "the most important goal for preventing type 2 diabetes is restoring normal fasting blood sugar levels, rather than focusing on the number on the scale".
This publication is the result of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) and transCampus network, to which both Prof. Birkenfeld as transCampus professor and Prof. Stefan Bornstein as transCampus Dean on behalf of the TUD belong. Other scientists from the Medical Faculty of TU Dresden who contributed to the project include Prof. Nikolaos Perakakis, Prof. Michele Solimena, and Prof. Peter Schwarz.
The study results indicate that, in addition to the objective of weight reduction, it is also imperative to incorporate glycemic target values, i.e., blood sugar reference values, within the practice guidelines.
The research paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03944-9