Walking More Every Day Keeps Diabetes Away

People who manage to take more steps every day not only help prevent obesity, but also reduce their disk of developing diabetes, a new study published on bmj.com today, concluded.

There is certain popular belief that we should take 10,000 steps every day, but a more recent recommendation lowered the number to 3,000 steps, five days a week.

This new study was carried out by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, in Melbourne, and it involved 592 middle aged adults who took part in a national study to map diabetes levels across Australia, from 2000 to 2005.

At the beginning of the research, all the participants filled in a detailed diet and lifestyle questionnaire, and also underwent a thorough health examination.

Then, they were given a pedometer and were taught how to use it.

Five years later, the patients were monitored again, and this time, other lifestyle factors like diet, alcohol and smoking were accounted for.

People who counted a higher daily step over the five-year period, also had a lower body mass index, a lower waist to hip ratio and better insulin sensitivity.

These connections were unrelated to the dietary energy intake and seemed to be largely due to a change in adiposity (fatness) over the five years, the authors say.

There have been many prior studies that have shown that physical activity reduces body mass index and insulin resistance (which is the early stage of the development of diabetes), however this is the first one to estimate the effects of long-term changes in daily step count on insulin sensitivity.

The researchers say that a sedentary person who takes a very low number of daily steps but who managed to change their behavior to meet the 10,000 steps a day recommendation, showed a threefold improvement in insulin sensitivity, compared to those who had only reached the 3,000 steps, five times a week.

To conclude, the scientists said that “these findings, confirming an independent beneficial role of higher daily step count on body mass index, waist to hip ratio, and insulin sensitivity, provide further support to promote higher physical activity levels among middle aged adults.”