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"The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise," wrote Thomas Jefferson. That’s true for all of us, but maybe especially so for type 2 diabetics, suggests three just-published studies.
The first, from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, followed more than 3,700 diabetic men and women, ages 25 to 74 years, for 19 years and found that those who stayed active at work and/or during leisure time were significantly less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or any other cause than those who did not exercise.
And the protective effect of physical activity was found with and without obesity, with and without high blood pressure, with and without abnormal cholesterol levels, and among both smokers and nonsmokers. The study's authors concluded that exercise might be the key to longevity for type 2 diabetics.(1)
The second study analyzed the effects of exercise among 33 women with type 2 diabetes for 14 weeks and found that daily aerobic activity reduced not only waist size but also visceral fat – the deep inner fat that surrounds organs like the pancreas.(2)
Many studies have found that visceral fat is linked with insulin resistance, a condition in which the body's cells do not want "accept" insulin. That's a problem because when insulin can’t do its job of "ushering" sugar (glucose) into the cells, the amount of sugar in the blood rises higher and higher. In about half of all cases, insulin resistance leads to type 2 diabetes.
The third study found that exercise, even without weight loss, decreased insulin resistance.(3) Following nine men ages 66 and older with type 2 diabetes, researchers from the Studies, Research, and Sports Medicine Center in Pamplona, Spain, found that strength training – just two sessions of lifting weights a week – decreased visceral fat, lowered fasting blood sugars, "and significantly improved insulin sensitivity," the authors concluded.
(1) Diabetes Care, 2005; 28: 799.
(2) Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2005; 90: 1511.
(3) Diabetes Care, 2005; 28: 662.
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