Diabetic yoga protocol improves glycemic, anthropometric and lipid levels in high risk individuals for diabetes: a randomized controlled trial from Northern India

PURPOSE: To study the effectiveness of diabetic yoga protocol (DYP) against management of cardiovascular risk profile in a high-risk community for diabetes, from Chandigarh, India. METHODS: The study was a randomized controlled trial, conducted as a sub study of the Pan India trial Niyantrita Madhumeha Bharath (NMB). The cohort was identified through the Indian Diabetes Risk Scoring (IDRS) (≥ 60) and a total of 184 individuals were randomized into intervention (n = 91) and control groups (n = 93). The DYP group underwent the specific DYP training whereas the control group followed their daily regimen. The study outcomes included changes in glycemic and lipid profile. Analysis was done under intent-to-treat principle. RESULTS: The 3 months DYP practice showed diverse results showing glycemic and lipid profile of the high risk individuals. Three months of DYP intervention was found to significantly reduce the levels of post-prandial glucose levels (p = 0.035) and LDL-c levels (p = 0.014) and waist circumference (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the DYP intervention could improve the metabolic status of the high-diabetes-risk individuals with respect to their glucose tolerance and lipid levels, partially explained by the reduction in abdominal obesity. The study highlights the potential role of yoga intervention in real time improvement of cardiovascular profile in a high diabetes risk cohort. Trial registration: CTRI, CTRI/2018/03/012804. Registered 01 March 2018—Retrospectively registered, http://www.ctri.nic.in/CTRI/2018/03/012804.