Even if it is hereditary, a healthy lifestyle can prevent diabetes!

An estimated 463 million adults worldwide have diabetes. Middle-aged people with healthy hearts are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a prospective study published today.

The study found that good cardiovascular health is important regardless of a person's genetic likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.

Good cardiovascular health is defined as having a healthy weight, blood pressure and total cholesterol levels, not smoking, eating a balanced diet and being physically active.

The researchers pointed out that although there is a certain genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, the results of the study show that maintaining healthy lifestyle habits, especially maintaining a healthy weight, can help reduce the lifetime risk of diabetes.

The study included 5,993 residents without type 2 diabetes. The average age was 69 years, and 58% were women.

Based on the body mass index, blood pressure, total cholesterol, smoking status, diet and physical activity at baseline, the cardiovascular health scores of these residents ranged from 0 to 12, with the higher the score, the better the cardiovascular health. According to their scores, they were divided into three categories of cardiovascular health: poor (0-5), moderate (6-7) and ideal (8-12).

The researchers used 403 independent genetic variants associated with the disease to calculate a genetic risk score to assess genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. Based on the score, the subjects were classified as having low, intermediate or high genetic risk.

During 69 208 person-years of follow-up, a total of 869 individuals developed type 2 diabetes.

Looking at cardiovascular health alone, the study found that people with better heart health had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes during their lifetime.

For example, at age 55, residents with ideal cardiovascular health had a lifetime risk of developing type 2 diabetes of 22.6%, while subjects with moderate and poor cardiovascular health had lifetime risks of developing type 2 diabetes of 28.3% and 32.6%, respectively.

When genetic risk is taken into account, people with better cardiovascular health still have a lower lifetime risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

For example, at age 55, among people with ideal cardiovascular health, the risk of diabetes among those at high genetic risk was 23.5%, while the risk of diabetes among those with moderate and poor cardiovascular health was 33.7% and 38.7%, respectively. The same was true among those at low and moderate genetic risk.

The findings highlight the importance of good heart health for preventing type 2 diabetes in middle-aged adults, regardless of whether they are genetically at high or low risk.

That is, a healthy lifestyle was associated with a significantly lower risk of type 2 diabetes in people at any genetic risk. Healthy habits are an effective strategy for avoiding diabetes later in life.

Source: China Circulation Magazine