Mixed
A 10-year intensive lifestyle intervention (caloric restriction and increased physical activity) significantly delays the onset of moderate or severe physical disability and increases disability-free life expectancy in adults with type 2 diabetes, particularly in women and those without cardiovascular disease.
If you have type 2 diabetes, committing to a structured lifestyle program involving calorie-controlled eating and regular physical activity (aiming for ~175 minutes of moderate activity per week) can significantly delay the onset of physical disability. This benefit is particularly pronounced for women and those without existing heart disease. While it may not extend your total lifespan, it can add nearly a year to your life spent free from physical limitations, improving your quality of life in your later years.
ILI participants had a significant delay in moderate or severe disability onset and an increase in number of nondisabled years (P < 0.05) compared with DSE participants. For a 60-year-old, this effect translates to 0.9 more disability-free years... In stratified analyses, ILI increased disability-free years of life in women and participants without cardiovascular disease (CVD) but not in men or participants with CVD.
Why this rating
Large-scale, long-term randomized controlled trial (n=5,145) with rigorous statistical modeling (Markov models) and intention-to-treat analysis.
Source
Impact of Intensive Lifestyle Intervention on Disability-Free Life Expectancy: The Look AHEAD Study
Edward W. Gregg et al. · Diabetes Care · 2018
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