Diabetes

Avoiding Diabetes

There are many different aspects of your health that affect whether or not you develop diabetes. Some of these factors are outside of your control including:

Age - If you're over 45, you're at a heightened risk. And up to 20 percent of Americans over age 65 have diabetes.
Heredity - If a parent had diabetes, you're likelier to also develop the disease.
Ethnicity - For reasons we don't yet fully understand, various minority groups in the United States are likelier than white Americans to develop diabetes. These groups include African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and native Americans.

If you fall into one or more of these high-risk categories, and haven't yet developed diabetes, you should be especially concerned about reducing the risks as much as possible. If you do already have Type 2 diabetes, you can control the course of your disease and how well you live with it by working to lower the risk factors.

What you can do

Although you can't change your age, heredity or ethnicity, there are a number of risk factors for developing diabetes that you can control. Certain conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and a sedentary lifestyle can be changed. Here are some things you can do:

Treat related conditions

Various treatments to lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol will help reduce the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. However, the single most important way to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes is to give careful attention to a balanced diet and regular exercise program.
Develop healthy habits

Studies have shown that individuals who have what's called a "predisposition" or an increased likelihood of getting diabetes due to heredity can dramatically lower the risk by making some sensible lifestyle changes:

Eat better

Lose weight

Exercise regularly

Stop smoking

People who are overweight are at greater risk of becoming insulin resistant and eventually developing diabetes. That's because excess weight makes the cells more resistant to glucose.
Recent studies have shown that nutrition and exercise programs can decrease the development of diabetes in high-risk groups by as much as 71 percent.

Bonus benefits

When you eat well, lose weight and begin a regular exercise program, there are bonus benefits. In addition to cutting the risk of developing diabetes, these good lifestyle choices also protect you against a whole host of other diseases and medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease and various cancers. And exercise increases your energy and helps make you feel great!

More features about Diabetes:

For more information:

Go to the Diabetes health topic, where you can:

Read articles on this topic
Browse the previously asked questions
Ask your own question.

This article is a NetWellness exclusive. NetWellness Article

Last Reviewed: Sep 08, 2006

Robert M. Cohen, MD
Associate Professor
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Department of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati

Laurie Sadler, MD
Medical Director and Assistant Professor
Center for Vascular Health
St. Vincent Charity Hospital
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University