A groundbreaking study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine has discovered that making poor lifestyle choices for just a short period can mess up how our blood vessels respond to insulin.
Insulin is the hormone that helps us use or store sugar from our food. The study is unique because it also found that men and women are affected differently by these lifestyle choices.
Researchers wanted to understand what happens to young, healthy people when they suddenly become less active and consume more sugar.
They asked 36 young men and women to cut their daily steps in half, from 10,000 to just 5,000, for ten days. The participants also drank six cans of sugary soda each day during this period.
The team led by Dr. Camila Manrique-Acevedo was curious about how these changes would affect insulin sensitivity, which is how well the body responds to insulin.
Poor insulin sensitivity can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes, both of which can increase the risk of heart disease.
What Were the Results?
Here’s where it gets really interesting: The bad lifestyle choices did have a negative impact, but only for the men in the study.
In men, less physical activity and more sugary drinks led to poorer blood flow in the legs when stimulated by insulin. This is important because it’s a sign that the blood vessels aren’t responding well to insulin.
The study also found that men had lower levels of a protein called adropin. This protein helps regulate how sensitive the body is to insulin and can be an indicator of heart health.
Women, surprisingly, didn’t show these changes, suggesting they might be a bit more protected against the effects of poor lifestyle choices, at least in the short term.
What Does This Mean for Us?
Dr. Manrique-Acevedo emphasizes that this is the first time researchers have shown that making bad lifestyle choices for even a short time can affect our blood vessels and insulin sensitivity, and that men and women react differently to these changes.
She plans to investigate further how long it takes to reverse these negative changes and to understand better why men and women are affected differently.
So, the next time you think about skipping your daily walk or reaching for that extra soda, remember that your choices might have a quicker impact on your health than you’d think—and if you’re a man, the effects could be even more immediate.
If you care about health, please read studies about new way to achieve type 2 diabetes remission, and one avocado a day keeps diabetes at bay.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about 5 dangerous signs you have diabetes-related eye disease, and results showing why pomegranate is super fruit for people with diabetes.
The study was published in Endocrinology.
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