Staying seated could up diabetes risk for women, study finds

NEW YORK — Women that are seated for longer periods of time are more likely to develop diabetes when compared with men, according to a new study.

Researchers from the departments of health sciences and cardiovascular sciences at University of Leicester in England assessed more than 500 men and women that were 40 years old and the amount of time the subjects spent sitting over the course of one week. They found that women who spent the longest time sitting had higher levels of insulin, as well as higher amounts of C-reactive protein and chemicals released by fatty tissue in the abdomen, leptin and interleukin6, which indicate problematic inflammation, the researchers said. The association between sitting and diabetes was not found, however, among the male subjects in the study.

"This study provides important new evidence that higher levels of sitting time have a deleterious impact on insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation in women but not men and that this effect is seen regardless of how much exercise is undertaken," lead study author Thomas Yates said. "This suggests that women who meet the national recommendations of 30 minutes of exercise a day may still be compromising their health if they are seated for the rest of the day. It therefore suggests that enabling women to spend less time sitting may be an important factor in preventing chronic disease."

The study, "Self-Reported Sitting Time and Markers of Inflammation, Insulin Resistance and Adiposity," appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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