'Healthy Neighborhoods' May Cut Diabetes Risk

People living in "healthy neighborhoods" that provide easy opportunities for exercise and healthy eating were less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in a five-year cohort study, after controlling for such factors as age, income, race, and education. "The strength of the association was considerable and equivalent to a reduction in type 2 diabetes incidence associated with a BMI of 5 [points] lower in this sample," Amy Auchincloss, PhD, MPH, of Drexel University in Philadelphia, and colleagues wrote in the Oct. 12 Archives of Internal Medicine. The analysis covered participants in Baltimore, the Bronx borough of New York City, and the North Carolina county that includes Winston-Salem.