There is a new study out in the Annals of Internal Medicine about lifestyle risk factors for diabetes. Here is how we break it down:
What did they do?
The investigators enrolled approximately 100,000 men and 100,000 women 50-71 years old who did not have heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. The investigators then asked the participants about their weight, height, physical activity, diet, smoking, and alcohol use. Ten years later, the investigators asked the participants whether a doctor outside the study had told them they had diabetes.
What did they find?
10% of the men and women developed diabetes. People who had the best lifestyle factors (physical activity, diet, etc.) were approximately 80% less likely to develop diabetes than the people who had the worst lifestyle factors. Perhaps most important, though was that the risk for diabetes decreased with each additional good lifestyle factor.
What does this mean?
Each lifestyle factor counts! If you make a commitment to change just one thing, you might later find yourself wanting to make another change. Each change in the right direction might help lower your risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes.
The study is: “Lifestyle Factors and Risk for New-Onset Diabetes. A Population-Based Cohort Study.” It is in the6 September 2011issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 155, pages 292-299). The authors are J.P. Reis, C.M. Loria, P.D. Sorlie, Y. Park, A. Hollenbeck, and A. Schatzkin.