Exercise, Weight Loss Reduce Risk of Type Two Diabetes

The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, found that such moderate lifestyle changes reduced participants’ risks of developing the disease by as much as 58 percent.

The study also found that participants who took the drug Metformin cut their risk of developing the disease by 31 percent. It is the first time a medication has been proven to prevent diabetes.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the findings were promising and that prevention was the right emphasis.

“Every one of us can go out and walk 30 minutes each and every day and that’s all it takes,” Thompson said.

An estimated 16 million people in the United States have diabetes, although experts say that at least a third don’t know they have it.

A successful study

The three-year Diabetes Prevention Program involved 3,234 adults between the ages of 25 to 85 who had a high risk of developing diabetes.

The study split participants up into three groups: people who exercised 150 minutes a week and lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight; people who took the drug metformin; and people who were given a placebo pill.

The exercising group had, by far, the most promising results. By dropping an average of 15 pounds and exercising 30 minutes a day, five days a week, the participants reduced their risk of diabetes by 58 percent. Most ate 1,200 to 1,800 calories a day and cut fat consumption to 25 percent of daily calories.

As many as 95 percent of people with the disease suffer from Type 2 diabetes, which causes people to gradually lose the ability to use insulin, a hormone crucial to converting glucose into energy.

Type 2 diabetes was once referred to as “adult-onset diabetes”, but as Americans become more obese and lead more sedentary lifestyles, more children are coming down with the disease.

Obesity is a leading risk factor for diabetes, as is age and family history. Minorities also have a much higher risk of developing diabetes, researchers say.

Diabetes often leads to blindness, kidney failure, limb amputations, heart disease and stroke.