Study: Women with healthy lifestyle can reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Washington: Researchers found that women who have a history of diabetes during pregnancy can still reduce their risk of developing it by living a healthy lifestyle that includes eating well, quitting smoking, exercising frequently, and not being overweight.
The results show that women who adhered to five key lifestyle factors – healthy weight, high-quality diet, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and not smoking – had a 90% lower risk of the disorder compared with women who did not adhere to any, even among those who were overweight or obese, or were at greater genetic risk of type 2 diabetes.
It’s widely known that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in generally healthy middle-aged populations.
But less is known about whether this also applies to high-risk women with a history of diabetes in pregnancy (gestational diabetes), and if obesity status or genetic risk of type 2 diabetes influence this association.
To fill in these research gaps, researchers evaluated the associations of adherence to optimal levels of five modifiable risk factors – healthy body mass index, high-quality diet, regular physical activity, moderate alcohol consumption, and not smoking, with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among these women at high risk.
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