Reduce Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Changes

Regular Exercise, Weight Control May Lower Risk of Developing T2D

Nov 19, 2009 Sue Cartledge

Simple interventions such as weight control and supervised exercise for obese people over 50 reduced their risk of T2 diabetes by 58%, according to a new study.

A long term study into diabetes, reported recently in the British medical journal, The Lancet, showed that consistent lifestyle changes – modest weight loss coupled with increased physical activity– reduced the long-term risk for developing type 2 diabetes by 58%.

By comparison, taking the oral diabetes drug metformin (850 milligrams twice daily) reduced the risk by 31 percent.

The results were based on a large, randomized trial – the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) involving 3,234 overweight or obese adults with elevated blood glucose levels. These people, at high risk for developing diabetes, were followed for 10 years.

They were divided into three groups: those taking oral diabetes medication, those on a placebo, and those given lifestyle interventions.

Lifestyle Changes Showed Fast Effect

The group trialling lifestyle changes were enrolled in regular exercise groups and advised on dietary changes to reduce their calories and fat intake. They also had frequent interaction with health-care professionals reinforcing the healthy lifestyle messages.

After three years of these intensive lifestyle changes, the risk of these participants developing T2D had dropped by 58 per cent.

They also enjoyed better cardiovascular risk factors, including lower blood pressure and triglyceride levels.

However, the researchers continued to study all participants for the rest of the decade, to ensure that the lifestyle protective effect was permanent.

While the patients taking oral diabetes medication also benefited, with a drop in risk of 31%, the researchers reported that the cumulative incidence of diabetes remained lowest in the lifestyle group.

Older People Gain Most from Healthy Lifestyle Changes

Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke, kidney failure, limb amputations and new-onset blindness.

The researchers noted that it was the oldest participants of the DPP study who gained the most from making the changes to diet and exercise. The benefits of intensive lifestyle changes were especially pronounced among older people. Those aged 60 and over lowered their rate of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years by about half.

These were all people who had started the study 10 years previously, seriously overweight or obese, and with raised blood glucose levels. Obviously, these obese elders had the most to gain.

Time to Consider Reducing T2D Risks

But the study also suggests that changing diet and exercise habits may well benefit people who are at a lower risk, but whose risk of developing type 2 diabetes is creeping up with age.

As people reach over 50, very often they slow down and combination of genetic factors, a sedentary lifestyle, and weight gain, develop elevated blood glucose levels, or prediabetes, (also known as metabolic syndrome).

The lifestyle interventions taught to the DPP group are relevant to most middle-aged people’s life. Obesity is increasing at a rate referred to as an epidemic in North America, Britain and Australia, and is a major risk factor for T2D.

More than two-thirds of US adults are now overweight or obese. The proportions are similar for the British and Australian populations. About 11% of Americans - 24 million people - have diabetes and 95% of them type 2 diabetes, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The study, 10-year Follow-up of Diabetes Incidence and Weight Loss in the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study, was published in the October 29, 2009 online edition of The Lancet.

You might also be interested to read: Mediterranean Diet Lowers Risk of Diabetes, Diabetic Benefits of Black Tea – Study, and Healthy Neighbourhoods May Deter Type 2 Diabetes

The copyright of the article Reduce Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Changes in General Medicine is owned by Sue Cartledge. Permission to republish Reduce Type 2 Diabetes with Lifestyle Changes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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