IntroductionThe incidence of type 2 diabetes is growing rapidly. There were approximately 2.4 million type 2 diabetics in Canada in 2008/09 (Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], 2011) and an additional 5 million Canadians over the age of 20 with prediabetes in 2004 (PHAC , 2011). It is this group with prediabetes that this article will focus on. Prediabetes has been defined by the American Diabetes Association as blood glucose levels that are above the normal range but do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of diabetes (The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus. American Diabetic Association, 2003). Although the World Health Organization ( World Health Organization [WHO], 2006 ) uses different cutoffs for both impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), the definition remains the same. This means that prediabetes is the state that lies between normal values ​​and those that meet the criterion for a diagnosis of diabetes. Although these two definitions differ in some aspects, there is general agreement (Lindstrom et al., 2006; Norris et al., 2005; Pan et al., 1997) that it is at this stage of the disease that type diabetes 2 can be reversed. . Numerous studies have demonstrated the reversal of a prediabetic state into a normoglycemic state (Norris et al., 2005). This prediabetic state may precede type 2 diabetes itself by years. This is where we can focus our attention and efforts to stem the tide of diabetes. This prediabetic state has been shown to be amenable to several interventions: exercise, diet, and pharmacological measures. Key among these various interventions is control of the hyperglycemic state and increased sensitization of cells to glucose and pr...... middle of paper ......oi: 10.1172/JCI29069Statistics Canada. (2005). Aboriginal Peoples Projections, Canada, Provinces and Territories (91-547-XWE). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. American Diabetic Association. (2003). Follow-up report on the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care, 26, 3160-3167. doi: 10.2337/diacare.26.11.3160World Health Organization. (1965). Diabetes mellitus: report of a WHO expert committee (technical report 310). Retrieved from: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/WHO_TRS_310.pdfWorld Health Organization. (2006). Definition and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and intermediate hyperglycemia (report of a WHO/IDF consultation). Retrieved from the World Health Organization website: http://www.idf.org/webdata/docs/WHO_IDF_definition_diagnosis_of_diabetes.pdf