https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28217594

Diabetes is a growing problem in many parts of the world, not only in the West. It is delightful, therefore, to learn of the very positive results of this study into the effectiveness of a yoga program in the management of diabetes using community health workers in the urban slums of Bangalore.

In 2012, the results of a national survey of yoga practitioners found that frequency of yoga practice was repeatedly a predictor of multiple aspects of health including mindfulness, subjective wellbeing, body mass index, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol consumption, energy levels and sleep disturbance. Some of these findings are replicated in a group of people with diabetes here. 52 people agreed to participate in the intervention (agreed to learn and practice Yoga) while the remaining 57 people were assigned to the non-intervention group.

The study was conducted for 40 days. Community health workers made a total of 6 visits during the study. All the 109 participants were available for weekly follow-up. There were no drop outs among the study population. Wonderfully, statistically significant change was seen in the increased consumption of vegetables and fruits and reduced consumption of salty food, bakery food and fried food. Increased adherence to medication and the proportion of patients with blood pressure under control, and the proportion of people with glucose random blood sugar under control was found in the intervention group.

Researchers concluded that the Yoga program was successful in improving dietary practices and medication adherence and in increasing the proportion of diabetics and hypertensive patients who had their symptoms under control.

Super-duper eh?!

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