Study Shows More Exercise, Less Sitting Goes a Long Way For Diabetics

By Katherine Tweed

Jan 30, Fox News

A recent study in the UK found that a range of efforts to get people at risk of type 2 diabetes to increase their physical activity were ineffective.

The year-long study conducted by ProActive UK and published in The Lancet, found that face-to-face and phone intervention programs were no better at increasing any measure of overall health than leaflets in the mail.

This study, involving 365 sedentary adults, raised a red flag about the best way to help people at risk for type 2 diabetes. Other studies done in the U.S. have found more success with higher levels of intervention that include diet plans and specific exercise regimens, but not everyone agrees those drastic measures are needed for people to being reducing their risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Exercise regimens can be difficult to stick with, and experts agree the government could clarify the message that physical activity is more about small lifestyle alterations than an extreme makeover — and provide more suggestions to make those alterations.

“There is one message that really needs to be made stronger in public health,” said Steve McKenzie an administrator of the A. H. Ismail Center for Health, Exercise and Nutrition at Purdue University. “That is physical activity, regardless of your size, is going to make you a healthier person.”

Read more this news quote

image by Getty Images