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A new study has suggested that obesity can be warded off and risk of diabetes can be reduced by simply taking more steps every day.
This is the first study to estimate the effects of long-term changes in daily step count on insulin sensitivity.
From in.news.yahoo.com:
At the start of the study, participants completed a detailed diet and lifestyle questionnaire and underwent a thorough health examination. They were also given a pedometer and instructed how to use it. Participants were monitored again five years later.
Other lifestyle factors, such as diet, alcohol and smoking were taken into account.
A higher daily step count over five years was associated with a lower body mass index, lower waist to hip ratio, and better insulin sensitivity.
These associations were independent of dietary energy intake and appeared to be largely due to a change in adiposity (fatness) over the five years, say the authors.
The authors estimate that, in their setting, a sedentary person who takes a very low number of daily steps but who was able to change behaviour over five years to meet the popular 10,000 daily step guideline would have a threefold improvement in insulin sensitivity compared with a similar person who increased his or her steps to meet the more recent recommendation of 3,000 steps for five days a week.
The study has been published on bmj.com and was Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne.
