No excuses - get out and walk for 30 minutes a day as your
minimum daily requirement for health and to prevent Type 2 diabetes. A study by
the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, published in
the Oct. 1, 2003 American Journal of Epidemiology discovered that walking for
30 minutes a day cut diabetes risks for overweight as well as non-overweight
men and women.
Complications of Type 2 diabetes are
the leading causes of misery and death in the US - amputations, impotence,
blindness, kidney failure, and shortening life by five to seven years. Yet this
disease is preventable by lifestyle changes - get out walking each day, eat
healthier, enjoy life rather than heading down the road to a life governed by
blood sugar readings and disabilities.
"We have found that men and women
who incorporate activity into their lifestyles are less likely to develop type
2 diabetes than those who are sedentary. This finding holds no matter what
their initial weight," said study author and principal investigator Andrea
Kriska, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at GSPH. "This suggests
that adopting and maintaining a program of regular physical activity similar to
what the Surgeon General's recommendations suggest can play a significant role
in preventing type 2 diabetes."
Walking Sheds Pounds as Well as Cutting Diabetes Risks in Overweight People
This is further support for the landmark 2001 Diabetes
Prevention Program study that showed that walking 30 minutes, for five days a
week and moderate changes in eating cut in half the risk of diabetes in
overweight people with high blood sugar. The participants also lost an average
of 15 pounds in a year. This result makes moderate exercise such as walking the
prescription to prevent Type 2 diabetes in the 16 million Americans on the
verge of developing diabetes.
These two studies are exciting because they studied high-risk populations,
made minor changes in lifestyle, and showed significant results.
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