Pedometer 'helps to cut risk of diabetes'
Ninety eight people with prediabetes – a precursor to Type 2 diabetes where sufferers have raised blood glucose levels – took part in the study to assess the effectiveness of an education programme and to see whether using a pedometer helps people to sustain increased physical activity.
An education programme which offers an education session about prediabetes and the role of a healthy lifestyle in preventing Type 2 diabetes was used.
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Hide AdFor the study, a control group was given only a brief information leaflet, another group took part in the education session and another was given both the education session and a pedometer.
Blood glucose levels, which were tested after participants ingested a standardised amount of sugar, were reduced by 15 per cent in the pedometer group after a year when compared to the control group.
Dr Iain Frame, research director at health charity Diabetes UK, which funded the research, said last night: "This study shows that we can and must take action to prevent Type 2 diabetes, particularly if the benefits can be shown in a larger number of people and over a sustained period of time."