Weight Loss Fails to Lower Heart Problems in Obese People with Type 2 Diabetes

A latest finding claims that a controlled diet and exercise may help Type 2 diabetes victims to lose weight, but this weight loss does not aid in reducing the risk of heart problems.

According to a latest clinical trial 'Look AHEAD' (Action for Health in Diabetes), obese people suffering from Type 2 diabetes can lower the risk of depression, microvascular complications and improve the  quality of life with a long term intensive lifestyle intervention program, but this intervention does not lower the risk of heart attacks or strokes.

Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the main objective of 
Look AHEAD was to examine the long term effects of healthy nutrition and exercises in overweight victims with Type 2 diabetes.

The Look Ahead trial was conducted on more than 5,000 obese adults belonging to the age group 45-76 who were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. It was conducted in 16 different centres across the U.S. The participants were divided into two groups; one was focused on lifestyle intervention through physical activity and low calorie intake, the other group was given conventional diabetic care.

Initially the clinical trial was planned for 13.5 years to discover the remarkable difference in the rate of major cardiovascular events, but it was stopped after 9.6 years for futility.

On comparing the control group and the intervention group they noticed that 418 people from the control group had major cardiovascular events such as nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke, death as a result of cardiovascular problem, or angina, while in the intervention group just 403 people experienced major cardiovascular events. In one year the intervention group lost 8.6 percent of their weight whereas the control group lost just 0.7 percent, reports Forbes.  

Weight loss did improve other factors such as blood pressure blood glucose levels and in some cases it also reversed diabetes.

Mary Evans, PhD, director of Look AHEAD at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, told The Gupta Guide, "They sustained 6% weight loss over 10 years. They had clinically meaningful improvements in glycated hemoglobin levels and less diabetes and less retinopathy. There were also improvements in quality of life and reduction in depression."

Dr Evans said that there was no significant difference in cardio vascular problems in both the groups because the control group was under medication.The researchers suspect that the support group benefited from the use of statins that reduced the difference in both groups.

The trial presented online in American Diabetes Association, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.