Shen QM, Li HL, Li ZY, et al. - In the Chinese population, a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) was observed in relation to an increased number of healthy lifestyle factors. There is a need for future interventions targeted at combined healthy lifestyle factors in order to achieve reduction in the burden of T2DM.

• This study included 56,691 men and 70,849 women participants aged 40-74 years old in two population-based cohorts from Shanghai Men’s and Women’s Health Studies.

• On using the healthiest group of healthy lifestyle index (HLI) as a reference, the estimated hazard ratios of T2DM rose monotonically in men [2.04; 2.94; 4.31] and women [1.85; 2.79; 4.14].

• A 35% and 35% lower risk in males and females, respectively, was observed in relation to one point increase of HLI.

• Adherence to a healthy lifestyle of maintaining healthy body weight, eating a healthy diet and keeping physically active could have averted about 52.7% and 58.4% cases in males and females, respectively.