Many people worry about developing type 2 diabetes as they get older. The disease affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is becoming increasingly common.
Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can no longer use insulin effectively, causing blood sugar levels to rise. Over time, this can damage blood vessels and organs throughout the body.
Although medications can help manage diabetes, preventing the disease in the first place is far better. A major new study suggests that the key to prevention may lie in habits that doctors have already been recommending for heart health.
Researchers from New York University examined whether following a set of healthy lifestyle and health-management practices could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes among postmenopausal women. Their findings were published in the journal Diabetology and suggest that the benefits may be substantial.
The study drew data from the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-running project that has tracked the health of thousands of women for decades. Researchers analyzed information from more than 19,000 women and followed them for an average of 16 years.
To evaluate overall cardiovascular health, the investigators used the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 framework. This system combines eight important measures of health: diet quality, physical activity, smoking status, sleep duration, body weight, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure.
Each participant received a score based on how well she met these goals. Women with higher scores were considered to have better cardiovascular health.
The researchers then looked at how many women developed type 2 diabetes over the following years. The results showed a powerful connection between cardiovascular health and diabetes prevention.
Among women with the highest Life’s Essential 8 scores, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 57 percent lower than among women with the lowest scores. This suggests that maintaining good overall health across multiple areas may dramatically reduce the likelihood of developing diabetes.
The researchers also wanted to understand which factors mattered most. They found that body weight and blood sugar levels were the strongest predictors of future diabetes risk. This finding aligns with previous research showing that excess weight places additional strain on the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar.
To confirm the results, the team conducted a second analysis involving nearly 100,000 women. In this larger group, they focused on five lifestyle factors: healthy eating, exercise, smoking, sleep, and body weight.
Even with only these five measures, the results remained impressive. Women with the healthiest lifestyles had a 40 percent lower risk of developing diabetes compared with women who had the least healthy lifestyles.
The findings also revealed differences among groups of women. Those younger than 60 years old experienced particularly strong benefits from higher scores. Hispanic women also appeared to gain greater reductions in diabetes risk compared with some other groups.
Waist size was another important factor. Women with smaller waist circumferences had especially low diabetes risk when combined with healthy cardiovascular scores. This finding supports growing evidence that abdominal fat may play a key role in metabolic diseases.
One reason the findings are important is that they focus on practical actions people can take. Unlike some risk factors that cannot be changed, such as age or family history, many of the Life’s Essential 8 factors are modifiable.
Improvements in diet, exercise habits, sleep quality, smoking status, and weight can often be achieved through lifestyle changes and medical support when needed.
The study also emphasizes that health should not be viewed as a collection of separate diseases. Heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure are closely connected. Actions that improve one condition often help reduce the risk of others as well.
From a public health perspective, the findings suggest that encouraging better cardiovascular health may have benefits far beyond preventing heart attacks and strokes. Such efforts could also help reduce the growing burden of diabetes.
When analyzing the research, the study’s strengths include its large sample size, long follow-up period, and comprehensive assessment of health factors. The consistency of the results across different analyses adds credibility to the conclusions.
However, the study cannot prove cause and effect because it was observational. Some information was based on self-reported questionnaires, which may introduce inaccuracies. Additionally, the participants were postmenopausal women, so the findings may not apply equally to men or younger populations.
Despite these limitations, the message is clear. The same habits that support a healthy heart may also be among the most effective tools for preventing type 2 diabetes.
The study suggests that maintaining healthy weight, staying active, eating nutritious foods, sleeping well, avoiding tobacco, and controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar can provide lasting benefits that extend well beyond cardiovascular health.
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Source: New York University.
