Scientists from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and elsewhere found three common unhealthy habits that may increase high blood pressure risk.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition where your body doesn’t use insulin properly.
Insulin is a hormone that helps your body process sugar (glucose) from the food you eat and turns it into energy.
With type 2 diabetes, your body can’t use insulin effectively, which causes your blood sugar levels to rise too high.
Over time, high blood sugar levels can cause damage to your body, especially your eyes, kidneys, nerves, and heart.
Type 2 diabetes is usually caused by a combination of genetics, lifestyle factors, and being overweight or obese.
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes can include feeling tired, thirsty, and hungry all the time, as well as frequent urination, blurred vision, and slow-healing cuts or sores.
Some families have a higher risk of getting type 2 diabetes and related health problems like high blood pressure and heart disease.
However, scientists don’t know much about how different lifestyle patterns (like eating and exercise habits) can affect blood pressure in these families.
This study aimed to look at this issue in six European countries.
The study included 1,844 adults who were at high risk for type 2 diabetes. They were asked about their diet, physical activity, and how much time they spent watching screens.
The researchers used a method called principal component analysis to identify different lifestyle patterns.
They found three lifestyle patterns. The third pattern (LP3) was linked to higher blood pressure readings and a higher risk of the disease.
The team found people in LP3 spent around 3 hours watching screens each day and ate 1.5 portions of sweet or salty snacks and drank 1 liter of sugary drinks daily.
Those in the highest tertile of LP3 had a 12% higher risk of high blood pressure.
The findings suggest that a combination of unhealthy eating and lifestyle behaviors may increase the risk of high blood pressure in families with a high risk of type 2 diabetes.
By changing these lifestyle patterns, doctors may be able to help prevent health problems in these high-risk people.
The research was published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics and was conducted by Eirini D Basdeki et al.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about added sugar in your diet linked to higher blood pressure, and results showing plant-based foods could benefit people with high blood pressure.
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