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When we ask people what they value most, health is usually top of the list. While effective care is available for many chronic diseases, the fact remains that for the patient, the tax payer and the whole of society: prevention is better than cure. Diabetes and its complications are a serious threat to the survival and well-being of an increasing number of people. It is predicted that one in ten Europeans aged 20-79 will have developed diabetes by 2030. Once a disease of old age, diabetes is now common among adults of all ages and is beginning to affect adolescents and even children. Diabetes accounts for up to 18 % of total healthcare expenditure in Europe. The good news is that diabetes is preventable. Compelling evidence shows that the onset of diabetes can be prevented or delayed greatly in individuals at high risk (people with impaired glucose regulation). Clinical research has shown a reduction in risk of developing diabetes of over 50 % following relatively modest changes in lifestyle that include adopting a healthy diet, increasing physical activity, and maintaining a healthy body weight. These results have since been reproduced in real-world prevention programmes. Even a delay of a few years in the progression to diabetes is expected to reduce diabetes-related complications, such as heart, kidney and eye disease and, consequently, to reduce the cost to society. A comprehensive approach to diabetes prevention should combine population based primary prevention with programmes targeted at those who are at high risk. This approach should take account of the local circumstances and diversity within modern society (e.g. social inequalities). The challenge goes beyond the healthcare system. We need to encourage collaboration across many different sectors: education providers, non-governmental organisations, the food industry, the media, urban planners and politicians all have a very important role to play. Small changes in lifestyle will bring big changes in health. Through joint efforts, more people will be reached. The time to act is now.

The prevalence and socioeconomic burden of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and associated co-morbidities are rising worldwide.This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for preventing T2DM.A European multidisciplinary consortium systematically reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of screening and interventions for T2DM prevention using SIGN criteria.Obesity and sedentary lifestyle are the main modifiable risk factors. Age and ethnicity are non-modifiable risk factors. Case-finding should follow a step-wise procedure using risk questionnaires and oral glucose tolerance testing. Persons with impaired glucose tolerance and/or fasting glucose are at high-risk and should be prioritized for intensive intervention. Interventions supporting lifestyle changes delay the onset of T2DM in high-risk adults (number-needed-to-treat: 6.4 over 1.8-4.6 years). These should be supported by inter-sectoral strategies that create health promoting environments. Sustained body weight reduction by>or= 5 % lowers risk. Currently metformin, acarbose and orlistat can be considered as second-line prevention options. The population approach should use organized measures to raise awareness and change lifestyle with specific approaches for adolescents, minorities and disadvantaged people. Interventions promoting lifestyle changes are more effective if they target both diet and physical activity, mobilize social support, involve the planned use of established behaviour change techniques, and provide frequent contacts. Cost-effectiveness analysis should take a societal perspective.Prevention using lifestyle modifications in high-risk individuals is cost-effective and should be embedded in evaluated models of care. Effective prevention plans are predicated upon sustained government initiatives comprising advocacy, community support, fiscal and legislative changes, private sector engagement and continuous media communication.

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this record. ; Data availability: GWAS summary statistics for FG/FI analyses presented in this manuscript are deposited on https://www.magicinvestigators.org/downloads/ and will be also be available through the NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads/summary-statistics. Raw files for RNA-seq mRNA expression in islet donors have been deposited in NCBI GEO database with the accession code GSE50398. Summary-level GWAS results for genetic correlation analysis with glycemic traits were downloaded from the LDHub database (http://ldsc.broadinstitute.org/ldhub/). Islets from 89 cadaver donors were provided by the Nordic Islet Transplantation Programme (http://www.medscinet.com/nordicislets/). The dexseq_count python script for RNA sequencing analysis in human pancreatic islets was downloaded from http://www-huber.embl.de/pub/DEXSeq/analysis/scripts/. Raw files for RNA-seq mRNA expression in islet donors have been deposited in NCBI GEO database with the accession code GSE50398. ; Differences between sexes contribute to variation in the levels of fasting glucose and insulin. Epidemiological studies established a higher prevalence of impaired fasting glucose in men and impaired glucose tolerance in women, however, the genetic component underlying this phenomenon is not established. We assess sex-dimorphic (73,089/50,404 women and 67,506/47,806 men) and sex-combined (151,188/105,056 individuals) fasting glucose/fasting insulin genetic effects via genome-wide association study meta-analyses in individuals of European descent without diabetes. Here we report sex dimorphism in allelic effects on fasting insulin at IRS1 and ZNF12 loci, the latter showing higher RNA expression in whole blood in women compared to men. We also observe sex-homogeneous effects on fasting glucose at seven novel loci. Fasting insulin in women shows stronger genetic correlations than in men with waist-to-hip ratio and anorexia nervosa. Furthermore, waist-to-hip ratio is causally related to insulin resistance in women, but not in men. These results position dissection of metabolic and glycemic health sex dimorphism as a steppingstone for understanding differences in genetic effects between women and men in related phenotypes. ; Academy of Finland ; ADA ; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) ; BHF ; Clinical Translational Science Institute ; Croatian Ministry of Science ; Directorate C - Public Health and Risk Assessment, Health & Consumer Protection ; Dutch Kidney Foundation ; Estonian Research Council ; European Research Council (ERC) ; European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) ; European Union Horizon 2020 ; Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany ; Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation ; German Research Foundation ; Greek General Secretary of Research and Technology ; Icelandic National Bioethics Committee ; IFB Adiposity Diseases ; IngaBritt och Arne Lundberg's Research Foundation ; Italian Ministry of Health ; Knut & Alice Wallenberg foundation ; Kuopio University Hospital from Ministry of Health and Social Affairs ; Affymetrix, Inc ; Lundberg Foundation ; Medical Research Council (MRC) ; Mid-Atlantic Nutrition Obesity Research Center ; Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland ; MRC-GSK pilot programme ; NHLBI ; NIA ; NIH ; Nordic Centre of Excellence on Systems biology in controlled dietary interventions and cohort studies, SYSDIET ; Novo Nordisk Foundation ; NWO/ZonMW ; Spinozapremie ; Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository ; Stockholm County Council ; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research ; Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation ; Swedish Research Council ; Swiss National Science Foundation ; TEKES ; Torsten och Ragnar Söderbergs Stiftelser ; Wellcome Trust ; Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation ; Note that the full list of funders and grant numbers is available in the online article and in the PDF in this record