Upping Physical Activity Slashes CV Events, Deaths in Type 2 Diabetics

Type 2 diabetes is fat person diabetes.

Not surprisingly, higher levels of leisure-time physical activity cut the risk of cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in people with type 2 diabetes, a new analysis from the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR) shows [1]. But in an important additional finding, researchers report that among diabetics who did little or no exercise at baseline, those who managed to substantially increase their leisure-time physical-activity levels over approximately five years cut their risk of death by almost two-thirds.

Dr Björn Zethelius (Uppsala University, Sweden) presented the study findings here at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2012 Meeting.

"We consider physical activity and dietary advice as the basal treatment for diabetes, and when it fails, different types of pharmacological treatment are added," Zethelius told heartwire . "But what this study shows is that it's never too late to increase your physical activity. Even when you are on medication, if you increase your physical activity, you will lower your risk for cardiovascular diseases. I think that's the [important] message."

If they were so into upping their physical activity, they would not have gotten fat enough to develop diabetes.