According to news-medical.net, scientists in the United Kingdom have found that simply by walking an extra 45 minutes a day, the condition of people with diabetes can be somewhat controlled. Scientists at Newcastle University did a study on people with late-onset, or type 2, diabetes and found that walking improves the body’s ability to store sugar and burn fat, an effect that improves the symptoms of diabetics after a few weeks. The team did an eight-week trial with 20 volunteers, 10 of whom had type 2 diabetes, and tested the effectiveness of the treatment before and after the trial by observing their leg muscles burn calories through MRI scans. Each volunteer was given a pedometer and was asked to walk at least 10,000 steps a day at lunchtime, before work or after work. The average person walked about 6,000 steps a day, and MRI scans showed that increased activity caused diabetics to burn 20 percent more fat and store more sugar in their muscles. Because muscle is the body’s largest storehouse of sugar, when muscle cannot absorb enough sugar, blood sugar levels rise, leading to damage to veins, arteries and organs. Studies have shown that high levels of fat in the blood and muscles prevent muscles from storing sugar efficiently, while exercise helps the mitochondria, the “tiny power stations” in cells, to burn fat and sugar, and exercise makes the mitochondria burn fat and sugar more efficiently.