Do walking after meals work the same for type 2 diabetes?

Short answer: the acute glucose-lowering effect likely carries over to type 2 diabetes, but the one proper trial in high-glucose people found no lasting benefit at 12 weeks. So no, not "the same."

The best direct test is a 12-week randomized trial in adults with elevated glucose or high diabetes risk: the walking group genuinely walked more (about 41 extra minutes a day, starting about 30 minutes after a meal) yet showed no improvement in HbA1c, fasting glucose, or 2-hour glucose versus control, even in subgroups who hit the dose and timing [1]. That is a real blow to the "works the same" claim, at least for sustained glycemic measures. It did modestly reduce weight, waist, and LDL [1], so the walk was not useless, just not glucose-lowering over months in this population.

For the acute effect in actual type 2 diabetes, the retrieval is thin. One study in middle-aged men with type 2 diabetes (average HbA1c 7.0) split exercise around lunch and reported lower oxidative stress versus a control day, but the extracted record gives no glucose comparison [2]. A single-patient self-study in type 2 diabetes estimated each 1,000 post-meal steps lowered his post-meal glucose by about 5 mg/dL, but that is one person with no external validation [3]. The clean positive trials, 10-minute walks cutting the dinner spike by up to about 1 mmol/L, were in healthy or insufficiently active adults, not diabetics [4].

What this retrieval cannot see: larger trials in diagnosed type 2 diabetes with continuous glucose monitoring. Outside this retrieval, such studies exist, but I cannot quote their numbers here.

My call: acute spikes probably drop somewhat in type 2 diabetes too, but the evidence for a meaningful lasting glycemic benefit in this population is weak and one good trial found none. Confidence: moderate.