How much can exercise lower your long-term risk of diabetes?

Exercise can curb your risk of type 2 diabetes over the long run.

Roughly 10 years ago, scientists randomly assigned 220 people with excess liver fat and a large waist to do:

• vigorous exercise: jogging on a treadmill for 30 minutes under supervision 5 times a week for 6 months and moderate exercise for 6 more months,
• moderate exercise: walking briskly for 30 minutes 5 days a week for 12 months, or
• their usual exercise.

Ten years after the trial ended, roughly half as many people in both exercise groups had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than in the usual-exercise group.

What to do

Keep moving. Even brisk walking can curb your risk of type 2 diabetes if, like many of the study participants, you stick with it.

Bonus: Moderate exercise also trimmed liver fat in the initial one-year study.