Fitness a Key Element in Determining Male Diabetic’s Longevity

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.

A new study expected to be presented in San Francisco this weekend at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society found that physical fitness appeared to be more important than weight in estimating a male diabetic’s longevity.

The researchers found that the higher the man’s level of fitness, the lower his risk of dying during the study period. For example, those in the high fitness level — whether at normal body weight or overweight — reduced their risk of death by 40 percent. The findings were even more dramatic for those classified as obese but in reasonable good shape: a cut in death risk of 52 percent, when compared to peers not physically fit, the study found during its seven-year follow-up period.