Washington, June 17 (IANS) Making lifestyle changes can prevent type-2 diabetes, simply, effectively and cheaply, a new study says.
Diabetes
is a chronic and complex disease marked by high levels of sugar in the
blood that arise due to problems with the hormone insulin, which
regulates blood sugar levels. It is usually caused by an inability to
produce insulin (type 1) or an inability to respond correctly to insulin
(type 2).
The study involved 230 people in poor, urban
neighbourhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area cities. Contacted by phone
about once a month, half of them received specific dietary guidance and
other lifestyle counselling.
After six months, those who had
received the counselling had on average lost more weight, were consuming
less fat, were eating more fruits and vegetables and showed more
improvements in lowering in their blood triglycerides, a key risk
measure for type 2 diabetes, the American Journal of Public Health
reported.
"Diabetes is not something you are necessarily going
to get just because it runs in your family," said Alka Kanaya, associate
professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco
(UCSF) and senior study author. "It is very preventable, and lifestyle
changes can really impact the onset of diabetes."
"You can do
something about it," said Anita Stewart, professor at the UCSF Institute
for Health & Aging and the Centre for Aging in Diverse Communities,
senior study co-author, according to a university statement.
A
major health concern in the US, diabetes of all types affect an
estimated 8.3 percent of the U.S. population -- some 25.8 million
Americans -- and cost U.S. taxpayers more than $200 billion annually.
Previous
studies have shown that counselling and other lifestyle interventions
are effective at preventing type 2 diabetes, but those interventions
have generally been designed for clinical settings and include separate
sessions with numerous health professionals.