Diabetics Should Adhere to Lifestyle Advice Given to General Public

People with diabetes should adhere to the same lifestyle advice given to the general public, according to researchers.

The study, published in the journal Diabetologia, found that those with diabetes may have the greatest to gain by following the guidelines prescribed generally.

Led by researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Postdam-Rehbruecke, the study looked at associations between lifestyle factors and mortality risk in those with and without diabetes.

To do this, they used the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), which includes nearly 6,400 people diagnosed with diabetes and roughly 260,000 without known diabetes. Using computer models, the researchers investigated the link in all the participants between mortality and body mass index, waist/height ratio, 26 food groups, alcohol consumption, leisure-time physical activity and smoking.

Overall mortality in those with diabetes was 62 percent higher than those without, according to the results. Furthermore, the researchers found that consumption of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, pasta, poultry vegetable oil were linked to a lower mortality risk. Butter and margarine intake, in contrast, was linked to an increased mortality risk. This was true for all participants, though the strength of the association varied between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups.

In the case of all other lifestyle factors, including alcohol consumption, smoking and inactivity, no differences were detected.

"It appears that the intake of some food groups is more beneficial (fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, pasta, poultry, vegetable oil) or more detrimental (soft drinks, butter, margarine, cake, cookies) with respect to mortality risk in people with diabetes," the researchers wrote. "This may indicate that individuals with diabetes may benefit more from a healthy diet than people without diabetes. However, since the directions of association were generally the same, recommendations for a healthy diet should be similar for people with or without diabetes."