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Combined Exercise Helps Diabetics Control Sugar Levels, Says Study

Posted on: Monday, 17 September 2007, 21:00 CDT

By JAMES STEVENSON

CALGARY (CP) - A new study suggests that people with Type 2 diabetes are able to stabilize their blood sugar levels significantly by combining aerobic exercise with weight training.

The study shows that diabetics doing both types of exercise regularly saw their blood sugar levels improve at twice the rate of those doing just one. The findings could impact more than two million Canadians with the disease.

Dr. Ron Siegal is an endocrinologist at the University of Calgary and co-author of the study being published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine. He suggests such drops in blood sugar levels would be "clinically significant."

"The difference between the combined exercise group and the control group that didn't exercise would translate into a 15 to 20 per cent reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke," he said Monday.

The six-month study, which was also conducted by seven researchers from the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Health Research Institute, used 251 randomly selected people.

While the study showed that those who did one form of exercise were able to lower their blood sugar levels more than those who did nothing, the group that did combined exercises showed the biggest improvements.

Siegal said the two-pronged approach could also help lower the risk of "micro-vascular" problems that often afflict people with Type 2 diabetes such as blindness, kidney ailments and peripheral nerve troubles by upwards of 40 per cent.

Type 2, sometimes known as late-onset diabetes, is the form of the disease that often shows up later in a person's life. It can be prevented or delayed through improving one's health and controlling weight, diet and stress.

"We know without a doubt that exercise is beneficial to our health, but it's often easier to say than do," said Diane Finegood, scientific director of diabetes at the Canadian Institute of Health Research.

"This important paper shows us that not only aerobic exercise, but also resistance training helps people with diabetes control their blood sugar. And if a person does both, they can control their blood sugar even better."

Calgarian Jack Vitalis, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1981, said he's noticed a "tremendous improvement" in his blood sugar levels since starting a combined exercise program two years ago.

"Before, I was feeling very sluggish. I was very tired. I was buying over-the-counter stuff like multiple vitamins and iron, and it didn't help," he said.

"When I started doing the exercises and actually brought down my ... glucose levels, I feel so much better. Not just physically, but mentally.

"I was going to say I feel like a young kid again, which is not true," said Vitalis, 71. "But I do feel much better now."

A person with Type 2 diabetes has a pancreas that doesn't produce enough insulin, the hormone that helps the body control the level of glucose or sugar in the blood.

Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common in Canada and around the world. The World Health Organization predicts there will be 300 million people with the disease around the globe by 2025.

The Canadian Diabetes Association says three million Canadians will have the disease by the end of the decade.

The rapid rise is believed to be due to an aging population in which obesity rates are rising and lifestyles are becoming increasingly sedentary.

Diabetes and its complications cost the federal health-care system an estimated $13.2 billion every year and contribute to the deaths of about 41,500 Canadians annually.

Source: Canadian Press

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