EACH extra hour of daily inactivity in the course of a week can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes by more than a fifth, a study has found.
Researchers used a wearable device that detects movement to show a strong association between immobile lifestyle and diabetes in 2,497 volunteers with an average age of 60.
Participants wore the accelerometer strapped to their thighs for 24 hours a day for eight consecutive days.
The results showed that those with Type 2 diabetes - 29 percent of the total - were also the most inactive.
They spent 26% more minutes per day in sedentary situations, for instance sitting at a computer or watching TV, than participants with impaired or normal sugar metabolism.
Statistically, every additional hour of sedentary time raised the risk of being diabetic by 22 percent, said the study authors, led by Julianne van der Berg, from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Diabetes Scotland said in response to the study, that more needed to be done to tackle the disease.
More people in Scotland have diabetes than ever before, with latest figures showing there are 276,000 living with the condition. Around 90 per cent of those suffer type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes Scotland said around 500,000 - around one in eleven of the Scottish population - are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes across Scotland.
Jane-Claire Judson, national director of Diabetes Scotland, said: “We want everyone in Scotland to be aware of the risk factors associated with developing Type 2 diabetes and get the support they need to live healthier lives with improved diet and fitness.
"Often it is difficult to take these actions forward - our built environment, the production and formulation of the food and drink we have access to as well as the cost of healthy options, our working practices, the opportunity to access active travel like cycling and walking, all contribute.
"We understand the factors which are contributing to poorer health and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes across Scotland - what we need to understand better is why this knowledge isn't being applied as quickly and proactively as we need to to turn around Scotland's health.
"A proactive, whole-society approach involving Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, local authorities, employers and the food and drink industry will help remove real and perceived barriers to healthy living for people across Scotland.”
The study authors concluded: "Our findings could have important implications for public health as they suggest that sedentary behaviour may play a significant role in the development and prevention of Type 2 diabetes.
"Consideration should be given to including strategies to reduce the amount of sedentary time in diabetes prevention programmes."
The researchers, whose results appear in the journal Diabetologia, looked at the possibility that people with diabetes are only less active because of their ill-health.
They found that when participants on insulin medication, who could be considered seriously ill, were excluded from the analysis the results remained the same.
"This may suggest that sedentary behaviour at least partly preceded Type 2 diabetes," they wrote.
Public health minister Maureen Watt said the Scottish Government was "working hard", in partnership with patients, families and interest groups to prevent more patients developing the disease and to treat those who are managing it every day.
“Diabetes is estimated to account for around 10 per cent of the total NHS budget. If poorly controlled it can lead to serious health complications, and it also disproportionately affects people from more deprived backgrounds. That is why it is a priority for this government," she said.
“Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, published in 2014, sets out a range of priorities and actions for improvement, to support health boards improve care for people living with diabetes, through early diagnosis, early detection and prevention of complications and supporting people to live well with diabetes."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here