Exercise plus a 10% weight reduction might be just what the doctor ordered for those battling obesity and prediabetes.
New research indicates that incorporating regular exercise into a weight loss plan can more than double insulin sensitivity compared to weight loss alone.
This could prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes and lessen the risk of heart disease.
The Power of Combining Weight Loss and Exercise
Dr. Samuel Klein, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, explains that insulin resistance is a significant cause of type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and abnormal blood lipids in obese individuals.
This study showed that adding exercise to a weight loss plan resulted in a significant increase in overall insulin sensitivity.
This improvement is far greater than what’s achievable with weight loss alone. Obesity causes the body to resist insulin, leading to higher blood sugar levels.
Details About the Study
The research included 16 volunteers, all of whom were obese with a body mass index (BMI) ranging from 30 to 49, indicating obesity, and showed medical evidence of prediabetes due to insulin resistance.
Half of the participants were put on a diet-only regimen that resulted in a 10% body weight loss. The other half combined dieting and a supervised exercise program, also resulting in a 10% weight loss.
Dr. Klein explains that while exercise often has minimal impact on body weight in people with obesity, combining it with dieting can bring about substantial metabolic benefits.
The Larger Context
Currently, as many as 96 million Americans may have prediabetes, translating to one in every three adults. Over 37 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, and over 40% are obese, a condition often linked to diabetes.
Given these figures, the significant metabolic benefits found in the study underpin why exercise should always be incorporated into weight management therapy, says Dr. Klein.
The study’s results were published on June 26 in the journal Nature Metabolism.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about a cure for type 2 diabetes, and why insulin is more expensive for people with diabetes.
For more information about diabetes, please see recent studies about bone drugs that could lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, and results showing eating more eggs is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
The study was published in Nature Metabolism. Follow us on Twitter for more articles about this topic.
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