Neighborhood Environment Influences Diabetes Risk

Access to, and availability of, residential assets such as exercise opportunities and healthy dining options, help to prevent the onset of type-2 diabetes. People living in residential areas with easily accessible and readily available options for exercise opportunities and healthy dining choices are at reduced risk of developing type-2 diabetes.  Amy Auchincloss, from Drexel University (Pennsylvania, USA), and colleagues studied 2,285 participants of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, ages 45 to 84 years at the study’s start.  The team collected data on neighborhood assets and screened the subjects for diabetes. After a five-year period, the team found that living in areas with “[b]etter neighborhood resources, determined by a combined score for physical activity and healthy foods, [was] associated with a 38% lower incidence of type 2 diabetes.”