Women with healthy lifestyle at lower risk of developing diabetes

WASHINGTON: According to a study, women with a history of diabetes during pregnancy can still minimize their chances of developing type 2 diabetes by adopting a healthy lifestyle, such as eating well, quitting smoking, exercising frequently, and not being overweight.

The results show that women who adhered to five key lifestyle factors - healthy weight, high-quality diet, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and not smoking - had a 90 per cent lower risk of the disorder compared with women who did not adhere to any, even among those who were overweight or obese, or were at greater genetic risk of type 2 diabetes. It's widely known that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in generally healthy middle-aged populations.

But less is known about whether this also applies to high-risk women with a history of diabetes in pregnancy (gestational diabetes), and if obesity status or genetic risk of type 2 diabetes influence this association. To fill in these research gaps, researchers evaluated the associations of adherence to optimal levels of five modifiable risk factors - healthy body mass index, high-quality diet, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and not smoking, with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among these women at high risk.

Their findings are based on data for 4,275 women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus from the Nurses' Health Study II with repeated measurements of weight and lifestyle factors over 28 years of follow-up. The researchers also assessed whether these associations changed according to obesity status or underlying genetic susceptibility for type 2 diabetes. Over an average 28 years of follow-up, 924 women developed type 2 diabetes.

After taking account of other major diabetes risk factors, the researchers found that participants who had optimal levels of all five modifiable factors after the index pregnancy had a more than 90 per cent lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes compared with those who did not have any.

This is an observational study, so it can't establish cause, and the researchers acknowledge that the data relied on personal reports, which may have affected accuracy. (ANI)

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