Reversal of Early Abnormalities in Glucose Metabolism in Obese Youth: Results of an Intensive Lifestyle Randomized Controlled

The childhood obesity epidemic has been accompanied by an increasing preva-lence of type 2 diabetes (T2D), particularly in minority children. Twenty to thirty percent of obese youth have “prediabetes, ” a precursor to diabetes marked by insulin resistance, b-cell dysfunction, and impaired glucose tolerance. The Dia-betes Prevention Program demonstrated that T2D could be prevented/delayed by intensive lifestyle modification in adults with prediabetes, but efficacy of similar interventions in youth has not been established. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of the Bright Bodies (BB) Healthy Lifestyle Program on 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) glucose in comparison with adolescents receiving standard of care. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A parallel-group randomized controlled trial comparing BB with standard clinical care (CC) in obese adolescents (10–16 years old, Tanner stage>2) with elevated OGTT 2-h blood glucose (130–199 mg/dL) from a racially/ethnically diverse pop-ulation. OGTTs, including cardiovascular and anthropometric assessments, wer