New sedentary time/diabetes link
Wednesday February 3rd, 2016
A new link has been found between daily sedentary time and risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Dr Julianne van der Berg of Maastricht University, The Netherlands, and colleagues investigated the association using figures from a long-term population-based study. Details were taken on 2,497 men and women with an average age of 60 years. All wore an accelerometer for eight consecutive days.
From this the researchers could calculate in details the daily amount of sedentary time. They linked these findings with the participants' glucose metabolism.
Overall 56% had a normal glucose metabolism, 15% had an impaired glucose metabolism and 29% had type 2 diabetes.
Those with type 2 diabetes spent the most time sedentary, analysis showed. This group spent up to 26 more minutes per day being sedentary than the other two groups.
This meant that the increased risk of diabetes per additional hour of sedentary time was about 22%.
The research is published in Diabetologia today (3 February). "Future studies in participants with type 2 diabetes should be conducted to confirm our results," the authors write.
"Nevertheless, our findings could have important implications for public health as they suggest that sedentary behaviour may play a significant role in the development and prevention of type 2 diabetes, independent of high-intensity physical activity. Consideration should be given to including strategies to reduce the amount of sedentary time in diabetes prevention programmes," they write.
The authors add that a number of previous accelerometry studies have shown links between sedentary time and waist circumference, cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels, markers of insulin resistance, and the metabolic syndrome.
van der Berg, J. D. et al. Associations of total amount and patterns of sedentary behaviour with type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome: The Maastricht Study. Diabetologia 3 February 2016 doi: 10.1007/s00125-015-3861-8 [abstract]
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