By John Salak –
Diabetes is not only a serious business, it is also a deadly one, especially for those who are inactive and don’t embrace a diet built around a healthy mix of foods. Keep in mind that movement & diet beats diabetes.
Millions of Americans suffer from diabetes and prediabetes and that number is only growing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 40 million Americans currently live with diabetes. Beyond this, it is estimated that 1.2 million individuals develop the disease every year and about 100 million have prediabetes.
The American Diabetes Association zeroed down on the ultimate consequences by reporting more than 100,000 Americans die each from the disease and millions of others will have their quality of life diminished.
Two recent studies tackled the diabetes trap, serving up a good news, bad news scenario. Researchers in the U.S., for example, warned that extended sitting not only makes diabetes more dangerous, but it also becomes substantially more deadly. Finnish scientists conversely offered a dieting remedy to help combat the disease.
Movement is essential. Adults with diabetes who meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity may help themselves reduce the related risk of mortality, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reported. Being excessively sedentary can significantly increase the risk of dying in general, but it is particularly dangerous for those with diabetes. The university’s study is the first to show that getting adequate exercise can lower the elevated mortality risk inactivity presents, even for those with diabetes.
“Managing the elevated mortality risk in this high-risk population is particularly pressing given the widespread diabetes epidemic and the tendency among adults with diabetes to sit more and move less,” explained Wen Dai, PhD, the study’s first author.
The Columbia team came to its conclusions by analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys that those 20 and older who suffered from diabetes. Half of the respondents had diabetes for five years or less, while 34 percent were diabetic for more than 10 years.
Under the self-reporting guidelines that covered six years, inactive individuals with diabetes—those recording less than 10 minutes of physical activity per week—faced a greater risk of mortality risk from all causes compared to more active individuals. Higher activity levels were set at more than 150 minutes per week.
“Our findings support an emphasis on encouraging and supporting patients in adhering to guideline-recommended physical activity levels, particularly for individuals whose life circumstances necessitate prolonged sitting in particular, such as drivers or office workers,” added senior author Sandra Albrecht, PhD, assistant professor at the school.
If inactivity is dangerous, so is poor dieting, especially when combined with sedentary lifestyles. University of Eastern Finland researchers, in fact, recently reported that a healthy diet and regular exercise can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes even in individuals with a high genetic risk. Not surprisingly, this lifestyle approach is positive for everyone, the Finish researchers stressed.
These findings are especially significant in the face of various research that identified more than 500 genetic variants that predispose individuals to Type 2 diabetes. The Finish team noted that unhealthy lifestyle factors only increase the diabetes threat for these and other individuals. These risk factors include being overweight, not consuming enough dietary fiber, taking in too much saturated fats and not getting enough exercise.
Previous studies have shown that Type 2 diabetes can be effectively prevented by lifestyle changes. The Finnish researchers took their work further by investigating whether the disease can be prevented even in individuals carrying numerous genetic variants that predispose them to Type 2 diabetes.
The team’s research involved a three-year lifestyle intervention program for almost 1,000 men aged 50 to 75. All those invited to the study had elevated fasting glucose at baseline. The actual intervention program focused on more than 600 men. The rest of the participants served as a control group.
Men in the intervention group received guidance on health-promoting lifestyles in group meetings. They were also supported by a web portal designed for the study. Ultimately, those participating in the lifestyle intervention were able to significantly improve the quality of their diet.
The effort included increasing their intake of dietary fiber, improving the quality of fats in their diet and increasing their consumption of vegetables, fruits and berries. Weight loss was also observed, although this was not an actual weight loss study.
The participants were physically active before they entered the program and they were able to maintain their good exercise habits throughout the study.
The combined changes cleared the way to reduce the deterioration of glucose metabolism. This resulted in the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes being significantly lower in the lifestyle intervention group than in the control group.
The researchers noted that the effects of lifestyle changes were equally significant for individuals regardless of whether they had a low or a high genetic risk.
“These findings encourage everyone to make lifestyle changes that promote health. Furthermore, they demonstrate the effectiveness of group- and internet-based lifestyle guidance, which saves healthcare resources,” noted the study’s first author, Docent Maria Lankinen.
