EXPECTED FINAL RESULTS AND POTENTIAL IMPACT AND USE

Overall, PREVIEW will test new and unique hypotheses on specific diets and intensities of physical activity on the development of type-2 diabetes over the whole life span. Furthermore, sleep and stress will be used as variables in the multicentre intervention and population studies. Finally, factors for motivation and moderators of behaviour change will be pin-pointed.

The PREVIEW intervention trial will compare the effects of two diets in a large number of pre-diabetic subjects in a multinational intervention trial, while at the same time incorporating physical activity at two different levels. Furthermore, population data analyses will be performed to support the findings of the intervention trial. By comparing the interaction between two different exercise intensities and varying dietary protein and GI, we will create very unique data. The present intervention trial addresses the role of diet and physical activity in maintenance of reduced body weight in an extended period (3 y), hence going beyond the time-span of most of the earlier studies.

PREVIEW will be able to evaluate the significance of parameters related to sleep duration, sleep quality, stress and physical activity for weight loss and subsequent weight maintenance. A disturbed sleeping pattern resulting in either reduced sleeping time or reduced sleep quality may be related to the development of type-2 diabetes. Stress, especially in interaction with the disturbed sleeping pattern, may emphasize this effect.

PREVIEW will assess the costs, effectiveness and benefits of providing extended support, reinforcement and motivation for people at high risk of diabetes to make positive lifestyle changes and maintain these in the longer term. Thereby our research will generate extremely valuable and policy-relevant evidence about prevention practices throughout Europe.

Palatability and culinary innovation are key factors for consumer acceptability of less well-known foods and dishes, and thereby for the putative societal impact of our research. By involving the highly recognized food developers, Meyers Madhus, PREVIEW will teach dietitians how to instruct participants in producing well-tasting and acceptable meals based on local foods and cultures.

The strategic impact of PREVIEW relates to the massive problems associated with diabesity (obesity and diabetes), as a global health issue and emerging epidemic and includes partners from east, west, north and south Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The public health and socio-economic impact of PREVIEW is therefore expected to be very significant. The PREVIEW project will increase our knowledge on the relationship between lifestyle factors, health and well-being, and evidence of the importance of lifestyle in helping to prevent diet-related diseases and contribute to healthy aging of the population in Europe.

The establishment of even more optimal regimens to effectively prevent and delay type-2 diabetes and reduce its associated complications will contribute greatly to improve the quality of life of both younger and older subjects and also to a major reduction in healthcare costs.

The PREVIEW project aims to improve the health of the European citizens by defining a dietary regime, which in combination with physical activity can prevent the escalation of diabetes and its complications. The project will also evaluate the moderating and/or mediating influence of social-ecological variables such as social-cognitive determinants of behavioural change and habitual behaviour, social environmental influences, cultural habits, socio-ecological and socio-economic components, as well as sleeping pattern and chronic stress. Such a cross disciplinary approach makes the project the most ambitious of its kind in Europe.

Furthermore, PREVIEW will assess the costs, effectiveness and benefits of providing extended support, reinforcement and motivation for people at high risk of diabetes to make positive lifestyle changes and maintain these in the longer term.

Hence, with the potential to identify a more effective, safer, tolerable and so accepted lifestyle for diabetes prevention in a variety of cultures, PREVIEW will inform and influence future health and research policy. The combination of multicentre, multinational intervention and population studies will lead to a greater understanding of how the diabetes epidemic can be curtailed, and how to prevent and treat obesity, cardiovascular disease and their complications in a variety of populations.

A specific dissemination strategy, will assure that the findings of PREVIEW will reach the most relevant stakeholder groups, including health and research policy entities, the agricultural sector and food industry, as well as a larger audiences within the general public, ultimately leading to a more effective prevention of type-2 diabetes and its related complications. This in turn, will enable to improve public prevention programmes, as well as the primary and secondary care treatment of the obese and pre-diabetic population in Europe, including the elderly.