Healthy lifestyle changes can cut Type 2 diabetes risk

A new report published in the Annals of Medicine found that a combination of even a few health lifestyle habits can cut the chances of getting Type 2 diabetes substantially. Jarad Reis, one of the researchers associated with the study, noted that the more healthy lifestyle factors one has, the lower the risk with overall risk reduction reaching 80%. The healthy lifestyle factors studied included: physical activity, healthy diet, body weight, alcohol consumption and smoking.

During the study, Reis' team collected data on 114,996 men and 92,483 women 50 to 71 years of age who took part in the National Institutes of Health--AARP Diet and Health Study. None of them had diabetes, cancer or heart disease at the start of the study. Over a period of 10 years, 9.6% of men and 7.5% of women developed diabetes. Researchers found that for each additional healthy lifestyle factor that was adopted by participants, the risk of developing diabetes was reduced 31% for men and 39% for women. Having a normal weight by itself reduced the risk of developing the disease by 60 to 70%