Weight loss key to fighting diabetes
By Herald staff
September 8, 2004
Exercise alone isn't enough in the fight against diabetes, women have got to drop the weight as well, according to a new study by Brigham and Women's Hospital.
While walking a few days a week may help your heart, it won't offer much in preventing adult diabetes if a woman isn't at normal weight, said Dr. Michael Gaziano, the senior author who works at the Brigham and the VA Hospital.
`If you exercise you can reduce the chances a little bit,'' said Gaziano, whose findings were published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. ``But you can't get it back to where it was unless you lose that weight.''
A critical factor in preventing the disease is a person's body mass index, the measurement of body fat based on weight and height. Doctors typically separate individuals into one of three categories based on that index: normal weight, overweight and obese. The higher the index the greater the chances of developing diabetes.
Losing that weight can be easier said than done, said Sonja Allen, 61, of Boston, who is battling Type 2 diabetes, a disease that claimed her mother last year.
Allen, who weighs about 260 pounds, has lost 31 pounds in the past year. But she knows she must lose more. At 5 feet, 2 inches tall, she hopes to drop down to 140.
``Even when you try and try and try, you have to do better,'' she said. ``That's the big struggle.''
The authors of the study traced a four-fold hike in diabetes for overweight women, even if they exercise moderately.
Obese women are 12 times more likely to develop the disease.
Gaziano suggested that women exercise at least 30 minutes a day.
``Being overweight seems to make it worse,'' he said. ``And shedding pounds, even shedding a few pounds, seems to make that better.''
Source:http://theedge.bostonherald.com
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