People who live in 'walkable' neighborhoods are less prone to diabetes, research suggests

If you live in a neighborhood that's conducive to walking, your chances of becoming obese or developing diabetes are substantially lower than if you live in an auto-dependent town or city, new research reveals.

A pair of studies presented at the American Diabetes Association's 74th Scientific Sessions found that people living in walkable areas had a 13 percent lower incidence of diabetes over 10 years than people in less walkable neighborhoods. Diabetes rates dropped lower and lower the more walkable the neighborhood was, the studies reported.

"How we build our cities matters in terms of our overall health," said lead researcher Gillian Booth, MD, Endocrinologist and Research Scientist at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto. "This is one piece of a puzzle that we can potentially do something about. As a society, we have engineered physical activity out of our lives. Every opportunity to walk, to get outside, to go to the corner store or walk our children to school can have a big impact on our risk for diabetes and becoming overweight."

Accessibility, exercise, and convenience

Obesity was also lowest in the most walkable neighborhoods, which researchers linked to a higher rate of biking and walking combined with less driving.

To determine a neighborhood's walkability, researchers accounted for sprawl, interconnectivity among streets and the number of local stores or services within walking distance.

A Canadian study published earlier this year found that if your neighborhood isn't conducive to walking, you're about 33 percent more likely to develop diabetes.

Booth concluded that solving the obesity problem "will require both policy changes as well as individual strategies. We have to take a more population-based approach to the problem, given the environment we live in."

Source: American Diabetes Association

Get a Free Diabetes Meal Plan

Get a free 7-Day Diabetes Meal Plan from Constance Brown-Riggs who is a Registered Dietitian-Certified Diabetes Educator and who is also a national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

Just enter in your email below to download your free Diabetes Meal Plan.

By clicking Submit, you agree to send your info to BattleDiabetes.com who, in addition to 3rd party partners, may contact you with updates, products and information and we agree to use it according to our privacy policy and terms and conditions.

More Articles

More Articles

For decades people with type-1 and advanced type-2 diabetes relied on painful and often flawed insulin injections to regulate blood sugar...

Scientists have discovered that a single gene forms a common link between type 2 diabetes and...

Natural supplements like cinnamon extract and apple cider vinegar could hold the key to lowering blood sugar levels, according to a recent...

Natural supplements like cinnamon extract and apple cider vinegar could hold the key to lowering blood sugar levels, according to a recent...

Could a person's risk for type 2 diabetes be written in their genes?

According to a study recently published in ...

Women who frequently shift around their sleeping hours could have worse metabolic health outcomes than their peers who stick with a...

The presence of the hormone leptin may hinder prenatal development, which could explain the origin of type 2 diabetes, according to...

An analysis of fossilized Native American feces shows that our ancestors ate up to sixteen times the fiber that we do today, but our...

Managing diabetes is hugely challenging for people of any age, but a new study suggests that young people may suffer all the more....

Disruptions to the gut’s ecosystem could be a future symptom facing young children who take antibiotics, which makes them more susceptible...

Breastfeeding a newborn holds many benefits for mommy and baby; it reduces the baby's risk for colds and viruses, it helps his bones (and yours)...

Fans of the Dexcom G5 Mobile have something to smile about.

At yesterday's hearing with the U.S. Food and Drug...

If you start your day with a cup of tea and end it with a glass of red wine, your blood sugar may thank you.

At least that...

As medical experts continue to debate whether or not "healthy obesity" can even exist, one new study suggests that risk for heart disease...

For years, type 1 diabetics have been anxiously waiting for that medical marvel that can stop the constant injections: the artificial...