If you’re obese with type 2 diabetes, new research shows that if you want to prevent the wellbeing risk of disability, you need to commit to regular exercise as well as weight loss.
For the study, over 5000 overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes were chosen, and the researchers excluded anyone with a haemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) over 11% and anyone with very high blood pressure or high triglycerides (a type of blood fat). Two-thirds of the participants began the study having had at least some type of mobility disability. The volunteers were randomly split into two groups: group one included lifestyle interventions to reach the wellness goal of losing 7% body weight and exercising more than 175 minutes a week, and the second group followed a diabetes support and education program.
The results were that after 4 years, the lifestyle intervention group reported a 48% reduction in disability, compared to the support group. Though 32% of the support group reported good mobility at the end of the study, this increased by 7% for the lifestyle intervention group. The researchers also found that there was a 7.3% reduction in the risk of mobility disability for every 1% loss of body weight. There was also a 1.4% drop in disability risk was every 1% improvement in fitness. However, study author, W. Jack Rejeski, a professor of health and exercise science at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine stated that combining both interventions provided the optimal results.
Rejeski confirmed ‘The lifestyle intervention combined caloric restriction and increased activity’ and this meant that ‘More of the lifestyle intervention group remained in the good-mobility category. And, that was with modest changes. Just a 6 percent change in body weight helped to ward off an important outcome’.
However, Rejeski warned that exercise was a crucial element in improving mobility wellness, because ‘If all you do is lose weight, the danger of losing muscle mass is greater. The message is that you need to lose weight and be active to enhance your function and not lose muscle mass’. Therefore, he recommends walking short distances regularly, especially with a walking buddy, to get you started, and then you can increase the distances as you improve. ‘Eventually, you’ll make progress. And, the lower your function was to start with, the more you’ll notice the change,’ he concluded.
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