Regular exercise can cut your diabetes risk

Diabetes is a disease in which your blood glucose, or blood sugar, levels are too high. It is the most common metabolic diseases in modern society. It turns out that exercise can reduce your risk of developing diabetes.

People who carry out an hour of moderate to vigorous exercise every day can reduce their risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 40%, according to a research by UCL and the University of Cambridge. The study also revealed that any amount of physical activity can reduce the risk of developing the disease. The research, published in the journal Diabetologia, is the most comprehensive study to look at the impact of exercise, independent of other behavioural factors such as diet, on a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The study analysed data from 23 studies carried out in the USA, Asia, Australia and Europe. By combining summarized data from over a million people, the researchers were able to separate out the effect of leisure time physical activity from other behavioural factors such as diet, and obtain better estimates of the effects of different physical activity levels. The study demonstrated that while any amount of physical activity is good for you, the benefits of exercise are greater for people who exceed 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week.

Stay healthy, keep moving.

Thanks for reading.

Journal Reference:

Andrea D. Smith, Alessio Crippa, James Woodcock, Søren Brage. Physical activity and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Diabetologia, 2016; DOI: 10.1007/s00125-016-4079-0