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Nine out of 10 cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented if people
exercised more, ate better, stopped smoking and adopted other healthy
behaviors.
The study findings suggest behavior is
the main culprit in type 2 diabetes, also known as adult-onset
diabetes, and that 91% of the diabetes cases that appeared among
85,000 female nurses could be attributed to habits and forms of
behavior.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot properly use the blood
sugar-controlling hormone insulin. Obesity
is known to be a major contributor to the condition.
The most important risk factor, they found, was being overweight.
The heavier a nurse was, the greater the risk.
But even having a weight at the high end of the normal range nearly
tripled the risk.
On the other hand, physical activity showed
a strong protective effect. Women who exercised for 7
or more hours per week were half as likely to develop diabetes than
women who exercised for less than half an hour weekly.
The New England Journal of Medicine
September 13, 2001;345
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