[Photo/Xinhua]

Regular exercise at certain levels can help drive down the risk of type two diabetes, according to a study released Tuesday by the University College London (UCL).

The team, led by UCL researchers, analyzed data from 23 previous studies conducted in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe, which involved over a million people.

They found that people having moderate to vigorous exercise an hour every day would help reduce their risk of getting type two diabetes by 40 percent.

In fact, any amount of physical activity can contribute to the decrease of the risk of developing the disease, said the team.

Type two diabetes cases worldwide is predicted to rise to nearly 600 million by 2035, according to UCL.

The results suggest "a major potential for physical activity to slow down or reverse the global increase in type two diabetes and should prove useful for health impact modeling", said Andrea Smith from UCL, who led the study.

The study has been published in the journal Diabetologia.