Washington, Oct 13 - People living in a sporty neighbourhood, with access to healthy foods, are likely to have a lower type-2 diabetes risk over a five-year period, a new study has found.

Large-scale behaviour change may be necessary to reverse the diabetes epidemic, but such a change is difficult to achieve and may be unsustainable if the surrounding environment is not supportive.

"The worldwide epidemic of type-2 diabetes mellitus is largely driven by the combined rise in obesity, intake of energy-dense or nutrient-poor foods and physical inactivity," the study authors write.

Amy H. Auchincloss of Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, and colleagues studied 2,285 adults aged 45 to 84 who were initially examined between 2000 and 2002.

Measures of neighbourhood resources were obtained from the Community Survey, in which other residents of the same neighbourhoods rated the suitability of their environment for physical activity and access to healthy foods.

For instance, they were asked whether it was pleasant or easy to walk in their neighbourhood, and whether a large, high-quality selection of fruits, vegetables and other low-fat foods was available.

Scores for physical activity and healthy foods were calculated for each neighbourhood on scales of one to five (with five representing the healthiest areas).

Over a median (midpoint) of five years of follow-up, 233 of the 2,285 participants (10.2 percent) developed diabetes. Average neighbourhood scores were 3.68 for physical activity and 3.36 for healthy foods.

"Better neighbourhood resources, determined by a combined score for physical activity and healthy foods, were associated with a 38 percent lower incidence of type 2 diabetes," the authors write, according to a Drexel University release.

The increasing prevalence of type-2 diabetes in the past 30 years makes it urgent to identify environmental features that may mitigate risk, the authors conclude.

These findings were published in the Monday issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. (IANS)