Dr. David Nathan was one of the lead researchers of the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. It scientifically proved that the right program of nutrition and exercise can prevent diabetes in people on the brink of the disease. The same lessons can have a major effect in those who already have diabetes.

Approximately 800,000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year in the United States, and that number continues to rise sharply. The results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial received enormous media attention because this approach to lifestyle change offers real hope to the vast and growing number of people with prediabetes (40 million in the United States alone) and those with type 2 diabetes (16 million).

Now, in Beating Diabetes, Dr. Nathan teams up with fellow Harvard Medical School expert Linda Delahanty to arm people at high risk for developing diabetes and those with type 2 di...