Parents could help to protect their children against diabetes by encouraging them to take three-minute “walking breaks”during television or video game sessions, scientists have suggested.
Medical experts have discovered that even brief bursts of moderate activity every half an hour can cut some of the warning signs linked to diabetes, such as high levels of blood sugar and insulin. Type 2 diabetes is very rare among under-18s, but the risk factors are thought to accumulate from an unhealthy lifestyle in childhood.
The scientists, writing in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, gave 28 children aged 7 to 11 a sugary drink then asked them to sit for three hours. Half the children sat still for the whole period, while the others took three-minute breaks walking on a treadmill every 30 minutes. On average, interrupting the sitting with walking breaks reduced the children’s level of insulin by a third and brought down their blood sugar and the concentration of fatty acids in their blood.
One of the leading researchers, Jack Yanovski, head of the growth and obesity section at the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said: “Our study indicates that even small activity breaks could have a substantial impact on long-term health.”