Besides a significant effort to institute exercise for the management of diabetes, many investigations and publications are focused on the benefits of exercise in the prevention of diabetes.
A prospective study from 1991 to 2007 of 4,554 women with gestational diabetes found that those who increased their exercise level by 2.5 hours/week had a 47% lower risk of developing T2DM later in life. The risk was inversely proportional to the amount exercised. Given the less than optimal dietary and exercise habits seen in a cohort of 1,228 pre-diabetics,40 it would be reasonable to expect that clinicians should consider recommending exercise to their patients who are pre-diabetic and/or considered at-risk for developing diabetes.