A new study published in the Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, suggests that the health factors that are good for your heart can also prevent diabetes. This research adds to the collective understanding about how physicians can help their patients prevent a number of serious diseases.
Dr. Joshua J. Joseph, an endocrinologist and assistant professor at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, wants to bring down the number of patients with diabetes, a growing problem in the U.S. He studies various ways to prevent diabetes, and his latest work looked at how cardiovascular health can impact diabetes risk.
Along with his team, Dr. Joseph assessed diabetes among 7,758 participants in the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study. They then used the American Heart Association‘s Life’s Simple 7 as a guide for measuring heart health among the group.
The Life’s Simple 7 health factors and lifestyle behaviors that are related to cardiovascular wellbeing are physical activity, diet, weight, cholesterol, pulse, blood glucose, and tobacco use.
By and large, the examination members who were in the suggested, perfect reaches for something like four of the seven variables had a 70 percent bring down the danger of creating diabetes throughout the following 10 years.
Joseph said, “When we compared people who had normal blood glucose and those who already had impaired blood glucose. Those in normal levels who attained four or more guideline factors had an 80 percent lower risk of developing diabetes. Those who were already diabetic or prediabetic and met four of the factors had no change in lowering their risk for diabetes.”
“This research proves using prevention strategies from the very beginning is key to helping Americans avoid diabetes.”
“Healthy people need to work to stay healthy. Follow the guidelines. Don’t proceed to high blood sugar and then worry about stopping diabetes. By that point, people need high-intensity interventions that focus on physical activity and diet to promote weight loss and, possibly, medications to lower the risk of diabetes.”