The Role of Lifestyle in Prevention of Diabetes

The major cause of common type of diabetes is lifestyle.  As the medical community gets excited about a new drug or discovery of a new gene, we are forgetting that we already know why most people have heart disease and diabetes.  And simple methods of prevention of this overwhelming illness can be accomplished with modest changes in the lifestyle.

Do not wait for a new drug or a discovery of a gene to blame for your weight or the diabetes.  The article published in Arch Intern Med.2009;169(8):798-807 is a testament of the importance of lifestyle-changing efforts.  In this article, the researchers followed about five thousand people around age 65 for ten years and evaluated the correlation between the development of diabetes and lifestyle. The lifestyles were defined on a base on 5 parameters and the so called low-risk lifestyle group had the following attributes:

• Activity – above median, mostly walking and leisure time activity
• Diet - higher fiber intake and polyunsaturated to saturated fat ratio, lower trans-fat intake and lower mean glycemic index.  This diet is mostly a whole grain, plant-based diet.
• Smoking - never smoked or former smoker more than 20 years ago, or for fewer than 5 pack-years.
• Alcohol use - predominantly light or moderate
• BMI - waist circumference of 88 cm for women or 92 cm for men.

9 out of 10 cases of diabetes were attributed to these lifestyle parameters. After adjustment for age, sex, race, educational level, and annual income, each lifestyle factor was independently associated with incident diabetes.

Overall, the rate of occurrence of diabetes was 35% lower, for each additional lifestyle factor in the low-risk group.  Participants whose physical activity level and dietary, smoking, and alcohol habits were all in the low-risk group had an 82% lower incidence of diabetes. When the person was not overweight, in addition to the other 4 low-risk lifestyle factors, the incidence of diabetes was 89% lower.

Let’s not blame the genes given to us or unavailability of the perfect pill.  In the majority of cases, our health is in our hands. Eat healthy, exercise regularly and you will stay away from many illnesses.