CARE4DIABETES supports 12 EU Member States in reducing the burden of type 2 diabetes (T2D) through the implementation of the Dutch evidence‑based best practice “Reverse Diabetes 2 Now”, developed by the NGO Voeding Leeft. Across more than 25 pilot sites, the Joint Action helped transfer, adapt, and evaluate a structured lifestyle intervention designed to improve diabetes outcomes and empower patients.
The project pursued four key objectives:
- Strengthen the lifestyle‑counselling knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals.
- Transfer, pilot, and refine an evidence‑based lifestyle intervention model for people living with T2D.
- Improve lifestyle behaviours, quality of life, glycaemic control, and medication use among participants.
- Support integration of the model into local, regional, or national health care services.
The pilot sites enrolled 796 participants—93% of the targeted 860—representing a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds. .
Participants experienced meaningful lifestyle and clinical benefits after six months:
- Healthier behaviours: reduced intake of ultra‑processed foods, increased vegetable and fish consumption, and more physical activity.
- Average weight loss of 2.7 kg.
- HbA1c reduction of 0.3 percentage points.
- Waist circumference reduced by 4 cm.
- Triglycerides decreased by 0.17 mmol/l.
- Quality of life improved, with a +5 point change in EQ‑VAS scores.
These results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of lifestyle interventions across varied European contexts.
Healthcare teams showed strong adoption of the intervention, supported by effective training that strengthened competencies in T2D lifestyle management. High satisfaction levels among healthcare teams and participants and creative problem‑solving enabled successful implementation.
The preliminary cost data reveals that the weighted average for total costs for the intervention was 1880€ per participant, in line with the original programme benchmarks.
Motivated teams, positive patient outcomes, and strong institutional partnerships emerged as key facilitators, while challenges such as staff turnover, resource limitations, and shifting policy priorities remain important barriers to address.
CARE4DIABETES demonstrates that a structured lifestyle intervention for type 2 diabetes can be successfully implemented across diverse European health systems, leading to:
✔ stronger multidisciplinary collaboration
✔ significant improvements in patient lifestyle and health indicators
✔ high healthcare professional engagement
✔ valuable insights for broader regional and national scale‑up
The project highlights the importance of targeted recruitment strategies and sustained organizational support to achieve long‑term impact.