Midlife Diabetes Risk

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

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Watching your weight remains important for reducing your risk of a common disease even when you're in middle age or beyond. Hi, I'm Dr. Cindy Haines, host of HealthDay TV.

As you get older, your risk of developing type 2 diabetes goes up. Nearly one-quarter of adults ages 60 and older have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.
A study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association supports the importance of keeping a healthy weight during middle age for preventing type 2 diabetes. In the study, researchers included more than 4,000 men and women ages 65 and older who didn't have diabetes. They asked the participants how much they weighed at age 50 and followed them for about 12 years.

People with the highest body mass index at the beginning of the study had more than four times the risk of developing diabetes compared to those with the lowest body mass index. And those who gained the most weight between the ages of 50 and the start of the study were nearly three times as likely to develop the condition as those whose weight stayed the same.

According to the National Diabetes Education Program, people at high risk of type 2 diabetes can help prevent the disease by losing just 10 pounds with 30 minutes of walking on most days of the week and sensible food choices.
I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news that doctors are reading; health news that matters to you.