With around 70 million people suffering from diabetes in the country, India is called the diabetes capital of the world. Not just the old, even young people are falling prey to diabetes, which makes it a matter of concern. It is also a known fact that if not taken care of in time, diabetes can lead to complicated health issues.

A recent study revealed that there is one thing that can help us protect ourselves from type 2 diabetes – cardiovascular health.

The study


A recent study found out the effect of good cardiovascular health in preventing type 2 diabetes among middle-aged people. It was found that middle-aged adults with a healthy heart are at a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Regardless of the genetic predisposition, good cardiovascular health reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among middle-aged individuals.

What is type 2 diabetes?


Type 2 diabetes is characterised by peripheral resistance to insulin. This implies that tissues in the gut, liver and muscles fail to respond to messages from insulin to take up glucose from the bloodstream.

It means that the liver which absorbs and produces glucose does not respond to insulin to stop this production. In the early stages, the pancreas secretes additional insulin to overcome the issues, but this process eventually fails.

Insulin is produced by the pancreas. It regulates the transport of glucose into the cells of the body, where it is the source of energy. Too high blood sugar levels over time can damage organs and other bodily systems.

There are various factors, both genetic and nongenetic that can increase a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes. There is evidence that simple lifestyle changes can also reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

A recent study in the Netherlands evaluated whether a good cardiovascular score reduces the lifetime risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study looked at middle-aged people with and without a genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes.

The study


The study included 5,993 people without T2D during the start of the study. The average age of participants was 69 years, of which 58 per cent were women. The participants were given the CVH scores based on a range of parameters. These parameters included body mass index, smoking behaviour, blood pressure, total cholesterol, diet and physical activity.

The CVH score ranged from 0-12, where 12 was the best score. Based on this, participants were divided into three groups, poor, intermediate and ideal.

The team calculated the biological CVH, which compromises blood pressure, total cholesterol and smoking. A CVH score was given to each participant based on all these factors. The genetic risk of the participants was also calculated and was classified as low, intermediate and high.

The results


Among people with high genetic risk, the lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes was 23.5 per cent, 33.7 per cent and 38.7 per cent for the ideal, intermediate and poor CVH groups, respectively.

The ideal CVH group has the lowest lifetime risk of type 2 diabetes as compared to poor and intermediate groups.

The lifetime risk of T2D was also assessed using behavioural and biological scores. In both biological and behavioural assessments, the risk was lower in the CVH groups than in poor and intermediate groups.

Conclusion


The results concluded that regardless of genetic predisposition, favourable CVH health is the most important thing in preventing the risk of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged people.

Limitations of the study

The authors of the study said that study has limitations. The team obtained individuals CVH parameters at baseline, which was 20-27 years earlier. This could have led to the wrong classification of participants across different categories.

Some results from genetic groups were based on relatively small sample sizes, which indicates that more information might be required.

Most of the participants were of European ancestry, limiting the range of study.

It was also found that participants decreased their risk of lifetime T2 risk by following an ideal behavioural CVH rather than an ideal biological CVH. One component in behavioural score was BMI.