What You Can Do to Cut Your Risk of Diabetes Type 2

Women at risk for developing diabetes type 2 can take a valuable tip from some recent news out of researchers at the University of Glasgow, UK. The British Heart Foundation study found that insulin resistance (a key biological risk factor for developing diabetes) in women identified as "high risk" dropped by 22% after just seven weeks on an exercise program.

Your risk for developing type 2 diabetes can be influenced by a variety of factors. Some you can control... others you can't. Here's what you need to watch out for:

- being overweight

- being inactive

- having a family history of diabetes, a parent or sibling with the disease

- getting older

- being a member of certain races, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians and Asian Americans

- having prediabetes, gestational diabetes or babies over 9 pounds.k

Currently the medical community is not sure why some people get diabetes and others don't, but if you have one risk factor (or more) there's plenty you can do to help reduce the risk.

The Glasgow researchers studied the effects of regular aerobic exercise in 34 females who had at least one type 2 diabetic parent, and 36 women who had no family history of the condition. At the beginning of the study, the group with the family history connection to diabetes had higher insulin resistance than the subjects who didn't have a diabetic parent or sibling did.

Bu just what type of exercise did they do? The study involved a program of three 30 minute sessions the first week, working up to five 1 hour sessions by the end of the study. The exercises the women were given were cardiovascular in nature - running, aerobics, cycling or using a rowing machine. A good, solid workout. And while the family history group showed such a marked improvement in their insulin resistance, the control group showed no significant change by the end of the study.

Though more research is surely needed, this result is a good argument for getting up, and getting moving, especially if you carry a family risk of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a nasty enough condition on it's own, but it has been shown to also increase the risk of heart disease in patients, with a rather worryingly two thirds of diabetics actually dying from heart disease. The good news though according to Dr. Nick Barwell who participated in the study is that, ""People at high risk have it within their power to substantially reduce their risk by increasing their activity levels."

So, if you have a parent, sibling or grandparent with diabetes type 2, it does not necessarily mean that the condition has to become a part of your life too. You can take steps today to do something about it. It may require a bit of effort... and a bit of change... but starting a regular exercise regime now, which involves aerobic exercise, can absolutely have a positive impact on your chances of avoiding this life altering disease.

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