For men with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study, how fit your are may be more important that just your weight in determining your longevity. 

For the study researchers categorized l, depending on their performance on a standard treadmill exercise tolerance test.reviewed the cases of 2,690 male diabetic veterans in VA hospitals as having low, moderate or high fitness level.  In most cases the men were obese or overweight. 

The researchers found that the higher the man’s level of fitness, the lower his risk of dying during the 7- year study period.

“Death rates were the highest for those who were ‘low fit’ in all weight categories,” said researcher Dr. Roshney Jacob-Issac in a prepared statement.

If you’re a man with type 2 diabetes, how long you live may be determined more by how physically fit you are than by how much you weigh.

“Death rates were the highest for those who were ‘low fit’ in all weight categories,” researcher Dr. Roshney Jacob-Issac, an endocrinology fellow at George Washington University Hospital, said in a prepared statement.

Men in the moderatly fitness level had up-to a 50% lower risk of death even if they were overweight, compared to men in the lowest fitness level.  

“Weight loss is great, but being active is just as important,” Jacob-Issac advised.   The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.

Source
Endocrine Society