Weight, Diet, Exercise, Smoking And Alcohol Consumption Linked To Diabetes Risk

Some people believe that genetics play the most important role in whether a person will develop type 2 diabetes or not — but one study discovered that lifestyle habits have the more important impact in this equation. That means that the steps you take toward a healthier life, which lowers your chances of developing diabetes, truly pay off. You have more control over your health than you may have thought.

Lifestyle Habits Play a Greater Role in Influencing a Person’s Risk for Developing Diabetes than Genetic Factors

Research found that the risk of developing diabetes is significantly reduced in people who follow a healthy lifestyle even if they had a positive family history for diabetes or were overweight.
 

Diabetes is a chronic illness associated with high morbidity and mortality. In 2010, about 25.6 million people were found to be affected by type 2 diabetes in the United States alone. Although treatment is available to manage diabetes, it is far more costly than making simple changes in the lifestyle of a person.

Researchers have found that following a healthy lifestyle by reducing weight through healthy diet choices, exercising regularly, giving up on smoking where relevant, and reducing alcohol consumption can reduce a person's chances of developing diabetes significantly. And what is very important is the fact that all these factors work independently of each other. This means that you can try to adopt these healthy habits one by one. It is not necessary that all these steps should be undertaken simultaneously to cut the risk of developing diabetes. Just starting an exercise regimen, reducing your weight, quitting alcohol, or stoppping smoking is already enough. By adopting more changes over time, you'll reduce your risk of diabetes incrementally.

Even if you have a family history of diabetes, you can reduce your chances of developing the disease by following these healthy habits.

However, the single most important step in preventing diabetes is maintaining a healthy body weight. All the other factors are secondary to this factor. An ideal body mass index (BMI) is around 25 for people of American origin. It may be different for people of Asian or other ethnicities.

Women are 84% less likely and Men are 72% less likely to Develop Diabetes if They Follow a Healthy Lifestyle

The study, conducted by Jared P. Reis, from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and his colleagues, was based on a survey of more than 200,000 Americans between the ages of 50 and 60 years, wherein the participants were asked to fill up a questionnaire about their lifestyle, diet and health status. None of the participants had diabetes at the time of survey. Another survey was repeated after ten years wherein the participants were asked whether they had been diagnosed with diabetes.

In the first survey, the participants were asked questions under five categories: BMI, diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption. It was found that healthy lifestyle factors like exercising for at least 20 minutes a day, three times per week and abstaining from smoking or quitting it for a minimum of ten years, reduced the risk of developing diabetes. It was found that people who ate a healthy diet had less chance of developing diabetes even if their other lifestyle factors were not that healthy, as compared to people who made poor lifestyle choices and ate a diet which was rich in saturated fats and low on fibers.

There were 84% less chances of a woman to develop diabetes if she ate a healthy diet, exercised, drank moderately and didn't smoke as compared to a woman who was overweight and made poor lifestyle choices. Similarly men with good lifestyle habits were 72 times less likely to develop diabetes as compared to men who followed an unhealthy lifestyle.