Diabetes Run in Your Family? Diet, Exercise Can Still Prevent It

Folks can overcome their genetic risk for type 2 diabetes through healthy diet and regular exercise, a new study says.

A healthy lifestyle reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 70% among a group of people with a high genetic likelihood of developing the metabolic disorder, researchers found.

In fact, healthy behaviors had a greater impact on their risk than it did for people with a low genetic propensity for type 2 diabetes, results showed. A healthy diet and exercise had a statistically insignificant impact on the diabetes risk of those with low-risk genetics, researchers found.

Nevertheless, “these findings encourage everyone to make lifestyle changes that promote health,” said lead researcher Maria Lankinen, a lecturer in nutrition with the University of Eastern Finland.

That’s because all participants tended to achieve better blood sugar control and lost weight if they engaged in a healthy lifestyle, researchers said.

The three-year study involved nearly 1,000 men ages 50 to 75 in eastern Finland. More than 600 of the men received guidance on healthy lifestyle, while the rest served as a control group.

Genetic risk was determined based on 76 gene variants known to increase risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers said.

However, during the study neither the participants nor the researchers knew to which risk group each individual belonged.

Men receiving the lifestyle guidance significantly improved the quality of their diet, results show. They ate more fiber, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats.

The men also maintained good exercise habits and tended to lose weight, results show.

Among those who received lifestyle counseling, about 7.7% of genetic low-risk men and 7.9% of high-risk men wound up developing diabetes – nearly the same proportion.

By comparison, 8.2% of low-risk men developed diabetes in the control group versus 14.1% of the high-risk group.

The new study was published recently in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The clinical trial “shows that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by a low-cost, group-based approach focusing on healthy diet and physical activity in middle-aged and elderly men, especially in the participants with a high genetic risk for type 2 diabetes,” researchers concluded in a university news release.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on preventing type 2 diabetes through lifestyle.

SOURCE: University of Eastern Finland, news release, Aug. 7, 2024