ODU's Colberg-Ochs quoted in WebMD article

Old Dominion University exercise physiologist Sheri Colberg-Ochs was quoted in a Jan. 14 WedMD article, "Taking 10,000 Steps a Day May Lower Diabetes Risk."

The article, by Denise Mann of WebMD Health News, discusses new research in the journal BMJ. As Mann notes in the article: "Of 592 middle-aged Australian adults, those who increased the number of steps they took during a five-year period and built up to 10,000 steps per day had a lower body mass index, less belly fat, and better insulin sensitivity than their counterparts who did not take as many steps daily during the same time period."

The article cites Colberg-Ochs as an ODU faculty member and an American Diabetes Association spokeswoman, who says that taking extra steps can help improve diabetes control, even among those who do not exhibit weight loss.

"It's a good idea to walk or exercise more, but this may not necessarily lead to weight loss, but it will help improve insulin action and diabetes control," Colberg-Ochs says in the article, which goes on to note: "Physical activity may lead to changes in body fat composition instead of weight loss, and these changes may help prevent or treat diabetes."

WebMD, an American corporation, is well known for its public Internet site, which offers health and health care information.

An ODU professor of exercise science, Colberg-Ochs chaired a combined ACSM/ADA committee that wrote a joint position paper of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association, which was published concurrently in the December 2010 issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and the ADA journal Diabetes Care.

Colberg-Ochs, who specializes in diabetes and exercise research, is a frequent national lecturer and author. She has written eight books and more than 200 articles on exercise, diabetes, healthy lifestyles, fitness, nutrition, aging, weight loss, diabetic Latinos and more.