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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – The incidence of diabetes in the US has reached epidemic proportions. It is currently the seventh leading cause of death in the US and this number may be underreported because up to 40% of those with diabetes may die from other causes such as heart disease or kidney failure whose risk is amplified by the underlying diabetic condition.
One in three children born today are at risk of having diabetes at some time during their life. It’s estimated that over 29 million American, more than 9% of the population has diabetes and another 86 million have prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar levels are above normal but not high enough for the diagnosis of diabetes. It is the prediabetic individual who can change their future by making lifestyle changes, some quite simple.
If untreated, people with prediabetes are likely to develop diabetes within 10 years. Women tend to progress from prediabetes to diabetes faster than men. But this is not inevitable. Prediabetes can be reversed and may never develop into type 2 diabetes with lifestyle changes.
The biggest issue is weight control. Too many adults in the US weight too much. And, the prospect of losing 50 or 100 pounds is daunting. What many don’t realize is that small weight changes can have big results. If you weigh 250 pounds and you lose 5% to 7% of your current weight, which translates into 12.5 to 17.5 pounds, you reduce your risk quite a bit. If you add 2.5 hours of walking each week, which again translates into a short 20 minute walk every day, your risk goes down even further. Achieving both of these modest goals can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%. For people over age 60, the risk goes down over 70%.
In addition to adding a daily walk, think about sitting less. It may sound odd, but sitting or sedentary activities such as watching TV, using the computer, or sitting at work or while commuting has been identified as a risk for diabetes and prediabetes even when you incorporate modest amounts of activity into your day. A recent study (http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1800/rr) connected sitting time with a positive risk for diabetes. The researchers speculated that for every hour of daily TV viewing, a person’s risk for diabetes increased by 3.4%.
We all need to sit, but there are ways to build activity into these behaviors. Walk in place during TV commercials. The typical American adult spends 3 to 5 hours a day watching TV. Each hour of TV averages about 12 minutes of commercials. Researchers (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21760553) had men step in place at a moderate pace during the commercials. The men burned 150 calories, more than double the amount of calories they would have used sitting. Get out of your recliner!
People are opting for stand-up desks. If you don’t want to go that far, just get up and pace whenever you are on the phone. Stand for part of the trip to and from work if you ride the subway, bus or train.
New research from the United Kingdom (http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/) followed 25,000 adults for 11 years and found that those who drank soda every day had a higher risk of developing diabetes. Those in the study, who replaced one serving of soda with one serving of water, or unsweetened tea or coffee, cut their risk by 14%.
All of these suggestions are small lifestyle changes, but they build one upon another to reduce your risk of developing diabetes. For those with prediabetes, these small changes could tip the scale in your favor and may encourage you to continue to make minor changes which could stop your progression to type 2 diabetes. For those with diabetes these small changes can improve the management of your condition and prevent complications.
Bottom line: You can’t control your genes, but you can control how you lead your life. Live well because your life depends on it.
For more information on how to prevent or manage diabetes, take a look at one of my latest books, The Diabetes Counter, 5th ed., Pocket Books.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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