The importance of the amount of physical activity on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Physical activity is a cornerstone of advice to both prevent and manage T2D, having been shown to lower blood glucose levels, reduce cardiovascular risk, and help reduce body fat in the large number of diabetics who are overweight or obese. Current advice for those with T2D promotes a minimum of 150 minutes of PA per week divided into 5 days of 30 minutes each. These 30 minutes per day can be completed either as a single block, or spread throughout the day, to aid compliance. It does not, however, specify when that activity should take place, and as the authors state: "The current study is the first controlled study conducted in free-living adults with T2D that has aimed to determine whether prescribed walking taken for short periods after meals confers longer-term benefits than walking on a single occasion at any time of the day."