Lose Weight, Count the Benefits
Blood pressure, blood sugar and other gains are often long-lasting
 (HealthDay News) -- People who lose weight shortly after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes appear to gain lasting rewards.
More than 20 million people in the United States have type 2 diabetes, and most of them are overweight or obese. Research has shown that weight loss plays an important role in controlling blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which helps prevent long-term complications such as heart disease, kidney damage, blindness, amputations and death.
"If you lose weight after diagnosis, you can achieve some long-term benefits in terms of blood pressure and glycemic control that extend even beyond the point at which you regain weight," Gregory A. Nichols, an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., told HealthDay.
Nichols co-authored a study that tracked the health of 2,574 people, 21 to 75 years old, for four years after they were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Just over 12 percent of them lost more than 25 pounds after their diagnosis, though within three years they had regained almost all of the lost weight.
Even so, people who lost weight were more likely to achieve blood pressure and blood sugar targets during their fourth year than were those who gained weight or whose weight remained stable after learning they had diabetes. The findings were published in Diabetes Care.
According to the American Diabetes Association, research has shown that people who are considered likely to develop type 2 diabetes are able to at least delay and often prevent the disease altogether by losing a small amount of weight and increasing their physical activity.
And for those who already have diabetes, losing 10 to 15 pounds can help them lower their blood glucose and blood pressure levels and improve the level of lipids, or fats, in their blood, the association says.
Such weight loss might also reduce the number of needed medications, it adds.
Whether the blood pressure and blood sugar benefits shown in the study lasted longer, though, is unknown. "It's entirely possible," Nichols said, "that if we looked at 15 years, we wouldn't find that benefit continuing." That's a topic for future study, he said, along with a look at differences between people who regained weight and those who kept it off.
But overall, Nichols added, "losing weight is a good idea."
On the Web
To learn more about keeping diabetes under control, visit the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
SOURCES:
HealthDay News ; Gregory A. Nichols, Ph.D., investigator, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, Ore.; Aug. 12, 2008, Diabetes Care, online; American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org)
Author:
Robert Preidt
Publication Date:
Sept. 30, 2009
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