Study Shows Modest Weight Loss and Exercise Can Cut Loss-of-Mobility Risk by About 50%

March 28, 2012 — Losing weight and exercising may help people with type 2 diabetes hold on to their mobility as they age, a new study shows.

The good news is that neither lifestyle change requires drastic measures.

The study, published in the , shows that losing just a little bit of weight and adding 25 minutes of physical activity a day can help prevent worsening of mobility-related disabilities among people with type 2 diabetes.

Experts who weren’t involved in the research praised the study for showing, once again, how critical lifestyle changes can be.

“I think this is an important study which comes to state what’s been said again and again: that you have to lose weight and be fit.

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An average 45-year-old woman has been on 61 diets through her life, according to a survey.

In a poll of 2,000 British men and women, more than three-quarter had embarked on a diet in the past year. Women had, however, tried the biggest array of eating plans to try to shift the pounds.

There are fears that fad diets are rubbing off on the next generation, causing potential future health problems.

Six out of 10 people surveyed said they had been asked by their children not to give them foods such as bread, potatoes and fruit, believing they are bad for them, when they are healthy as part of a balanced diet.

Around half of parents did remove some of these foods from their children’s diet.

More than 85 per cent of those surveyed on behalf of the bread company Warburtons said they did not know calcium was important to their diet and around half did not know the mineral was found in white bread.

In particular, those aged under 26 didn’t realise the importance of calcium even though it helps grow and maintain bones which carry on developing until around 30.

These findings have got experts worried.

“An average of 61 diets over an adult lifetime could mean an awful lot of people have cut a significant amount of calcium out of their diet over the years especially if they’ve been avoiding calcium-rich food groups on a regular basis,” TV doctor Hilary Jones said.

“It seems the British obsession with dieting could be having a detrimental effect on our nutritional intake, as many people lose sight of what constitutes a healthy balanced diet.

A New Hampshire girl and her family are fighting to get federal approval for a device they said could change the lives of people with diabetes.

Elle Shaheen, 12, was recently in a trial to test an artificial pancreas that allow those with diabetes to avoid having to constantly check blood sugar levels and calculate how much insulin they need.

Elle, who has Type 1 diabetes, said she typically has to prick her fingers and check her blood sugar levels dozens of times a day. In people with Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t produce insulin, which is needed to process sugar obtained from food.

Those with the illness must carefully control the types of food they eat, inject insulin to allow their body to process sugar or both. F Read more…

Your vision may weaken as you get older, but the Cleveland Clinic says there are things you can do to maintain the health of your eyes: