Relationship of Diet, Physical Activity, and Nutritional Status to the Risk of Diabetes Mellitus: Cross-Sectional Analysis

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is one of the metabolic diseases that continues to increase in prevalence worldwide, mainly due to unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. This study aims to analyze the relationship between diet, physical activity, and major risk factors for the incidence of diabetes mellitus. This study used a cross-sectional research design with data collection through the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) to assess diet, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to measure physical activity levels, and blood sugar and HbA1c levels using calibrated laboratory equipment. In addition, anthropometric measurements were carried out to assess the nutritional status of respondents. The results showed that older age, obesity, excessive sugar consumption, and low physical activity were the main risk factors for diabetes mellitus. Respondents with a sugar consumption frequency of ≥3 times/week had a 2.67 times higher risk of developing diabetes mellitus compared to those who consumed lower amounts of sugar. Respondents with low levels of physical activity had a 3.12 times higher risk of developing diabetes compared to physically active individuals. In addition, obesity was also found to increase the risk of diabetes by 2.1 times. Multivariate analysis showed that excessive sugar consumption and lack of physical activity were the most influential factors on the incidence of diabetes mellitus. These findings suggest that lifestyle interventions based on healthy diet and increased physical activity are very important in efforts to prevent diabetes mellitus. Therefore, more effective education strategies and supportive health policies are needed to reduce sugar consumption and increase physical activity in the community. Further research with a longitudinal design is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in the long term.