A new study in Nature Medicine shows that lifestyle changes prevent cardiometabolic diseases more effectively than medications.

What did researchers find?

Combined lifestyle interventions - which include targeting sedentary behavior, physical activity, and diet - reduce Type 2 diabetes risk by 40% over 3-6 years in controlled studies, performing twice as well as the diabetes drug metformin.

The study notes that unhealthy behaviors often cluster together, increasing the risk of premature death - which is why addressing multiple lifestyle factors at once is crucial.

The benefits of these lifestyle changes can persist for up to 20 years and improve multiple health markers including weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

However, when these programs move from controlled studies to real-world healthcare settings, their effectiveness drops by 50-67%.

To address this, the researchers recommend policy changes like designing walkable neighborhoods, increasing access to green spaces, implementing sugar taxes, and subsidizing healthy foods, to create environments that make healthy living accessible to more people.