Last month a group of 12 fathers, fund-raised over 12,000 pounds by cycling over 300km from London to Paris for their children suffering from type 1 diabetes. The aim was to encourage path-breaking research into the lifestyle disease so as to be able to, one day, find a cure. The reason the 'dozen diabetes dads' chose the medium of cycling, was to drive home the point that cycling does help in controlling the condition.
About a year ago, PLOS Medicine published a study which examined the impact of cycling on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted in Denmark on those between the age of 50 and 65 and it found that those who pursued cycling were at a lower risk of developing diabetes in comparison to those who didn't.
The knowledge that any form of physical activity is essential to the body is a known fact, says Dr Vijay Panikar, diabetologist with Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. "But regular cycling helps keep the disease at bay or fight the existing disease mainly because it works on ones core and muscles both at the same time. Even in low intensity it provides a good workout."
If, however, one must really fight any form of lifestyle diseases including diabetes, it is essential that one invest at least 30 minutes every day in moderate intensity workout such as brisk walking, cycling or swimming, says Nisha Varma, an exercise physiologist from the American college of sports medicine.
According to the findings of the study, it is never too late to benefit from cycling and even those in their twilight years or years approaching retirement can indulge in low intensity cycling as "those who took up cycling after the study began had a lower risk of developing diabetes than those who did not."
The reason the study was done on Danish adults is because of the high prevalence of cycling in the countries of Denmark and Netherlands. The study also raised the point that to provide environments and infrastructure that encourages such initiatives as cycling, the government must take it up as a public health concern.