According to the United States Institutes of Health, living a healthy lifestyle can cut your risk of having diabetes by 80 percent. The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, September 6 issue.
It has been stated that diet, exercise, smoking and drinking is an important factor whether an individual may develop type 2 diabetes. According to lead researcher Jarad Reis, a researcher from the U.S division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the lifestyle factors that they have focused on were physical activity, healthy diet, body weight, alcohol consumption, and smoking.
Each of these factors has a direct effect on a person’s risk to diabetes. For instance, if a person has a normal weight or normal body mass index, his risk of having diabetes will be lowered by 60 to 70 percent. In addition, smoking can reduce the risk for about 20 percent and a healthy diet can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by 15 percent.
The risk of developing diabetes can be lowered by having a healthier lifestyle. The overall risk reduction can reach 80 percent, Reis added.
One hundred fourteen thousand nine hundred ninety six men and 92,483 women were analyzed in the study. The team collected the participant’s data within an age span of 50 to 71 years of age. This group of people took part in the National Institutes of Health- AARP Diet and Study. All of these individuals has a healthy lifestyle and they have no cancer, heart disease or diabetes.
Each individual who adds additional healthy lifestyle factor, the risk of developing diabetes was reduced by 39 percent for women and 31 percent for men. Having the healthy lifestyle even in middle age is not a hindrance; it will also give the same significance of lowering diabetes risk.