Type 2 diabetes and physical activity

The PREVIEW project investigators have reported broadly positive results, but tempered by issues such as a high dropout rate.

Patients with diabetes have an increased risk for arthritis, osteoporosis, and musculoskeletal pain, study findings indicate.

Sedentary time, higher intensity physical activity (HPA), and cardiorespiratory fitness all independently affect the risk for type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, data from The Maastricht Study show.

Physical inactivity is a “significant but underappreciated contributor” to the risk of developing diabetes in people who are already at high risk and should be routinely measured in clinical trials, say the NAVIGATOR investigators.

The authors of the single diabetes-related Cochrane review published in December find moderate-quality evidence for the ability of diet plus exercise to ward off type 2 diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance.

A meta-analysis shows that although medications and lifestyle changes can both reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes in high-risk patients, only lifestyle modifications have a sustained effect.

A randomized controlled trial confirms previous observational findings that active commuting is an effective means of reducing body fat, equivalent to doing five sessions of vigorous activity per week.

Patients with type 2 diabetes should be encouraged to walk or cycle to work to help reduce the burden of the disease.

Adding an intensive lifestyle intervention to usual care slightly improves glycemic control but substantially reduces the need for glucose-lowering medication among patients with non–insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes, suggest trial results published as a preliminary communication in JAMA.

Session attendance was only moderate and self-monitoring very poor in youths with type 2 diabetes who participated in the TODAY lifestyle programme, an analysis shows.

A machine-learning analysis suggests the existence of heterogeneous treatment effects in the Look AHEAD trial, which could account for the overall neutral effect of the study intervention on cardiovascular outcomes.

Researchers find that the increased risk for type 2 diabetes among patients taking statins is limited to the least fit individuals.

Research suggests that interspersing prolonged sitting with upper body exercise can help people with limited mobility or weight-bearing problems to limit their postprandial glycemic response.

Research shows that people who pack their weekly recommended minimum dose of exercise into one or two sessions still reap a good proportion of the benefits – although more frequent exercise would still be better.

Researchers have expanded on their previous findings to demonstrate that the metabolic benefits of interrupting prolonged sitting with periods of light exercise extend for many hours after the intervention.

Researchers believe that guidelines for Type 2 diabetes should specify that exercise should be taken after eating, especially if the meal contains a lot of carbohydrate.

Wearing activity monitors does not lead to improved health outcomes, despite a modest increase in wearers’ activity levels, shows a large randomised trial.