Governments and experts are calling for action to combat the medical, economic and social costs of rising rates of preventable conditions like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). To date, governments in Canada have taken little legislative action to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity...

New research suggests that a period of careful eating and regular physical activity could prevent diabetes for up to a decade. US researchers followed up nearly 3,000 overweight people who had taken part in a three-year diabetes prevention programme. They had initially been divided into three groups, one undertaking a diet and exercise programme, the second taking metformin and the third a placebo. The report noted it was the dieters who reaped the most benefit.

Just three months of physical activity reaps heart health benefits for older adults with type 2 diabetes by improving the elasticity in their arteries - reducing risk of heart disease and stroke, Dr. Kenneth Madden told the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Dr.

A regular tai chi exercise program can help people better control their diabetes and lower glucose levels, according to a University of Florida study.

When most people think of insulin, they think of diabetes - a disease that arises when, for one reason or another, insulin can't do the critical job of helping the body process sugar. But the hormone has another, less well-known function. It's also necessary for muscle growth, increasing blood flow through muscle tissue, encouraging nutrients to disperse from blood vessels and itself serving as a biochemical signal to boost muscle protein synthesis and cell proliferation.