Strength and weight training may help control type 2 diabetes

Credit: Sven Mieke/ Unsplash

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.

In a recent study from the University of Campinas, researchers found that vigorous physical exercise such as strength and weight training may help control type 2 diabetes in obese people.

These exercises could help reduce accumulated liver fat and improve blood sugar control. The health benefits can happen quite fast, even before there is a big weight loss.

Previous research has shown that excess fat in the liver causes local inflammation, which makes liver cells less sensitive to the action of insulin.

This condition can progress to cirrhosis and eventually to liver failure.

The study was published in the Journal of Endocrinology and conducted by Leandro Pereira de Moura et al.

In the study, the team found that two weeks of strength exercise was enough to modify gene expression in liver tissue in ways that “burned” more stored fats.

This contributed to the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

In addition, cellular insulin signaling in tissue improved, and hepatic synthesis of blood sugar decreased.

The team says that in obese individuals with high heart disease and metabolic syndrome risk, reducing liver fat is vital to help control diabetes.

The liver should produce blood sugar only under fasting conditions.

If insulin signaling in tissue is impaired, the liver releases blood sugar into the bloodstream even after the ingestion of carbohydrates, and this can raise the level of blood sugar.

The team previously had shown overtraining can contribute to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

They found excessively strenuous exercise can do more harm than good.

They hope the finding can help develop new methods to help obese people control type 2 diabetes in the future.

If you care about diabetes, please read studies about high vitamin D levels linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and scientists find a cure for type 2 diabetes.

For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies that brown rice and white rice affect the diabetes risk differently, and results showing Mediterranean diet could help reduce the diabetes risk by 30%.

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