Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA), a leading Yoga University, in its findings of large-scale intervention study has indicated that robust behavioral change strategies and lifestyle modifications could be one of the most effective strategies to control diabetes at its biological precursor stage or prediabetes.
These lifestyle modification trials, considered the cornerstone strategy for diabetes prevention, include interventions on diet control, and physical activity, said Dr H R Nagendra, president, S-VYASA.
Robust behavioral change strategies also serve as an integral part of efficient lifestyle modifications and underlie the ensured sustenance of clinical outcomes, he added.
Yoga-based intervention is an emerging integrative healthcare practice comprised of asanas or physical exercises, pranayama or breathing techniques and meditation. It also includes a strong behavioral component of self regulation derived from ethical concepts of yamas and niyamas which are ethical concepts. In fact, these ethical principles of yoga have also been proposed to enhance the integration of physical and mental sensations, stated the S-VYASA team in a paper published in the Frontiers of Endocrinology titled YLP in preventing diabetes in high risk Indian population.
The recent estimates by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) report a 9.3% prevalence of diabetes, which indicates 463 million adults of 20 to 79 years suffering from the disease across the globe. India tops the second rank as a diabetes capital, with 77 million adults with diabetes. And by 2030, India will continue to remain on the top list, with an estimated number of 101 million people with diabetes.
Several lines of evidence support the efficacy of yoga on the amelioration of modifiable metabolic disease risk factors like fasting blood glucose (FBG), and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and the lipid levels in general, high risk as well as the population with type 2 diabetes manifestation as compared to usual care or no intervention, said the S-VYASA researchers.
The trial included individuals of age, 20–70 years with prediabetes, those with severe obesity, history of uncontrolled hypertension, coronary artery disease, renal disease, diabetes retinopathy, head injury, tuberculosis, reported psychiatric problems, major surgery, pregnancy in case of women, those planning to move out of the area within the next 3 months and those who had already done yoga for 3 months just before the dates of recruitment were excluded from the study.
The primary outcome was the conversion from prediabetes to diabetes after the yoga based lifestyle protocol intervention of 3 months. Overall the community-level recruitment in phase 1 of the screening for IDRS values included 49,226 individuals from 130 clusters were eligible. Among these 27,611 individuals responded to biochemical assessment, and 7,920 were in the prediabetes range.