Bad lifestyle choices in young people could lead to diabetes

[DCUK NewsBot]

New research has shown lifestyle choices of young people between 17 and 24 years of age can pose the risk of developing diabetes. This research was performed by the University of Veracruz (UV), in the east coast of Mexico, called the Lifestyles Nutrition Students and Risk of Type II Diabetes. Beatriz Torres Flores, PhD, and colleagues at the Centre for Research and Health Services at UV observed students’ habits for 25 years. Diabetes risk factors They reported that around 37 per cent of their participants were overweight or obese, and when combined with certain risk factors, this could lead to the development of diabetes. The risk factors included a lack of physical activity, skipping breakfast and psychological stress, which can develop from bad sleeping habits and tension. Missing breakfast led to metabolic stress among students, with specialists at the Mexican Diabetes Federation reporting this leads the body to believe no short-term food will be consumed, so it adapts to conserve energy and therefore weight is gained. UV specialists have developed programs of nutritional intervention and studied diabetes risk factors over the last 25 years, but more needs to be done according to Dr. Flores. "Although we know that there are people genetically predisposed to develop diseases such as diabetes, improving food culture as habits of the students is an option that would contribute to stopping the development of the disease," said Dr. Flores. "We find college students with glucose levels over 100 or blood pressure over 120, that clearly some of these cases represent a risk of developing a chronic degenerative disease".

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