Editorial: Prevention of type 2 diabetes – where is the evidence?

Diabetes is an “old disease”. The first description of diabetes written on papyrus about 3500 years ago is found in the Ebers papyrus, which was discovered in Egypt in 1873 by the German archeologist Georg Ebers. Humans, like most mammals, may develop diabetes, if sufficient environmental exposure to physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and obesity are present. Genetic effects are important for the individual risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) but twin studies have shown that the genetic effects combined explain less than 50% of the risk of T2D.