- Middle-aged men in Lycra – or Mamils – cut risk of diabetes by 20%
- Men and women who take up cycling in middle age are healthier as result
- Even fair weather cyclists, who left their bikes at home in winter, benefited
Fiona Macrae Science Editor For The Daily Mail
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Their fondness for fluorescent cycling jerseys and tight shorts has made them figures of fun.
But middle-aged men in Lycra – or Mamils, as they have been nicknamed – may have the last laugh.
Research shows that men and women who take up cycling in middle and late life are healthier than their contemporaries.
Their risk of type 2 diabetes, the form that usually develops in middle-age and is becoming even more common, was cut by 20 per cent.
Men and women who take up cycling in middle and late life are healthier than their contemporaries and are a fifth less likely to develop type 2 diabetes
Even fair weather cyclists, who left their bikes at home in winter, benefited, the journal PLOS Medicine reports.
With some of those studied 65 when they took up cycling, the Danish researchers said it is never too late to get on your bike.
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Martin Rasmussen, of the University of Southern Denmark, tracked the health and habits of more than 50,000 men and women aged between 50 and 65 for an average of five years.
This showed that cyclists were less likely to develop diabetes, with even those who took the activity up during the course of the study benefiting.
Mr Rasmussen said that while exercise in general is good, cycling is likely to be particularly appealing to those who lack the time to take part in organised sport, or whose age or health prevents them from doing higher-impact activities such as jogging.
This showed that cyclists were less likely to develop diabetes, with even those who took the activity up during the course of the study benefiting
More research is needed to work out how cycling protects against diabetes, but weight loss is likely to be important.
The researcher said: ‘We find it especially interesting that those who started cycling had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, given that the study population were men and women of middle and old age.
‘This emphasises that even when entering elderly age, it’s not too late to take up cycling to lower one’s risk of chronic disease.’
In an accompanying article, Cambridge University experts in public health echoed the sentiment.
However, they cautioned the typical British cyclists might struggle to keep up with the Danes, the keenest of whom clocked up more than seven hours of cycling a week.
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