Type 2 diabetes is a disease characterized by insufficient production or inappropriate use of insulin, that is, the hormone responsible for cells to capture blood glucose to produce energy.
Consequently, and as more than 350 million people from around the world are suffering, the circulatory torrent transports an excess of glucose, which ends up causing damage to multiple organs of the body.
However, the impact of the disease does not end there: it is estimated that its prevalence could be doubled in just a couple of decades.The good news is that this type 2 diabetes, which constitutes more than 90% of the cases of all types of diabetes, can be prevented.
And for this, you just have to adopt healthy lifestyle habits: eat healthier and practice.Therefore, it is time to park the car and take the bicycle, as it shows a study carried out by researchers from the University of Southern Denmark in Odense (Denmark), people who ride a bicycle regularly have a riskUp to 20% of developing the disease.
As Martin Rasmussen, director of this research published in the magazine «Plos Medicine», “The most interesting of our results is that those who began in the use of the bicycle also showed a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. And this isVery interesting because the population participating in our study were medium -sized women and men.
That is, our results emphasize that even for older people it is never too late to take the bicycle and reduce the risk of suffering chronic disease.
Age is not excuse
The objective of the study was to analyze the possible relationship between the usual use of the bicycle, either as a means of transport or as a recreational activity, and the reduction of the risk of appearance of type 2 diabetes. And for this, the authors had the participationof 27,890 women and 24,623 men between the ages of 50 and 65.
The results showed that the participants who regularly mounted by bicycle had a lower risk of developing the disease, this lower risk being the weekly time dedicated to pedaling.In fact, and after five years have elapsed since the beginning of the study, the people who spent more time riding a bicycle had a 20% risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes than those that, for whatever reason - for example, opted for othersTypes of transport with less physical demand, in case of their cars - refused to get on the armchair.
More;The prevention of the development of type 2 diabetes associated with the use of the bicycle was independent of other risk factors of the disease, case of smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and physical exercise other than cycling.
For older people it is never too late to take the bicycle and reduce their risk of type 2Martin Rasmussen diabetes
So much so that, as the authors highlight, “our results suggest that riding a bicycle, also in the case of older people who had never done so, could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, so they support the development of programsto promote the usual use of bicycles ».
park the car
In short, as Jenna Pantor and David Ogilvie, of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), point in an editorial of the same number of the magazine, “the results emphasize the need for the implementation of public health measures to support theInterventions aimed at increasing physical activity habits in the population ».
Therefore, the study provides new evidence on the benefits ofpark the car and opt for more ‘healthy’ means of transport.As Martin Rasmussen concludes, «since riding a bicycle can be part of any daily activity, its use can be adopted by a large part of the population.
This is the case of those people who, due to a mere matter of lack of time, have no other possibility of practicing physical exercise ».
Source: ABC.es
