Can Lifestyle Changes Keep Diabetes Under Control Articles | Remedy

By: Richard Bleuze

Can Lifestyle Changes Keep Diabetes Under Control

Many doctors today recommend that those patients with diabetes make a few lifestyle changes.  These changes have come about because of a few studies that had a positive effect on lifestyle changes.

One study found that Chinese adults with pre-diabetes who adopted a healthy diet and exercised for 6 years were much less likely to progress to full blown diabetes over the next 14 years as their pre-diabetic counterparts who made no healthy lifestyle changes.

In addiion, several major studies have also shown that lifestyle changes can help prevent or at least delay type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals with impaired glucose tolerance, a precursor to diabetes.  However, questions remain over how long these strategies remain effective after the lifestyle intervention.

Another diabetes prevention study performed in China, included a large group (577) of pre-diabetic adults who were randomly assigned in 1986 to a "control group," in which no changes were made, or to one of three lifestyle intervention groups (diet, exercise, or diet plus exercise).

The goal of the combined lifestyle intervention was to boost vegetable intake and lower alcohol and sugar intake; get overweight or obese people to lose weight by eating less; and boost physical activity.

It was reported by Dr. Guangwei Li, from China-Japan Friendship Hospital, that the combined lifestyle intervention reduced the occurrence of diabetes by more than half (51 percent) during the 6-year active intervention period, and by 43 percent up to 14 years after the active intervention period ended, compared with control subjects who made no changes.

In addition, the onset of diabetes was also delayed by 3 to 6 years, on average, with lifestyle intervention.

"Since around 3 million excess deaths a year are attributable to diabetes worldwide, lifestyle interventions seem to be a justifiable public health action," Dr. Li's team concludes.

Drs. Jaana Lindstrom and Mattii Uusitupa of the University if Helskinki and the University of Kuopio, Finland, have also published a report stating that lifestyle intervention should start much earlier when people have normal blood sugar levels "to achieve true primary prevention of 2 diabetes.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!