MedWire News: Regular physical exercise reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes in women with a family history of the condition, study results suggest.

The findings are important as "the offspring of people with Type 2 diabetes are about three times more likely to develop the disease than those with no family history of the disease," explained lead researcher Dr Jason Gill, from the University of Glasgow in the UK.

She added: "Not only is Type 2 diabetes a very serious condition itself, but it can double or triple the risk of heart disease. In fact, more than two-thirds of all people with diabetes will die from heart disease."

Dr Gill and team studied 34 women with a parental history of Type 2 diabetes and 36 women without such a history. None of the women, who were aged between 20 and 45 years, had been diagnosed with diabetes, although all admitted doing less than 1 hour of physical activity a week and all had sedentary jobs.

At the start of the study, women with a parental history of diabetes had higher insulin resistance - a risk factor for diabetes - than the other participants.

All the women participated in a physical exercise programme of three 30-minute sessions in the first week, working up to five 60-minute sessions in week 7. Exercise sessions included cardiovascular activities such as running, using a rowing machine, aerobics and cycling.

At the end of the 7-week study period, the researchers found that insulin resistance had fallen by an average of 22% in women with a parental history of the condition.

In contrast, there was no significant change in insulin resistance among women without a parental history of diabetes.

"The same exercise programme reduced insulin resistance to a vastly greater extent in the women with diabetic parents, telling us that exercise is particularly good at reducing diabetes risk in this vulnerable group," said co-researcher Dr Nick Barwell, also from the University of Glasgow.

"Our research shows that developing diabetes is not inevitable for people with a family history of diabetes. People at high risk have it within their power to substantially reduce their risk by increasing their activity levels."

Commenting on the findings, Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, added: "We know that exercise is good for you, but seeing in black and white that this high risk group improved their own bodies' insulin resistance in just a couple of months is a striking demonstration of how effective it can be.

"I hope the findings will encourage people to get active for their health."

The research is published in the journal Diabetologia.