In one large prospective trial, Diewertje Sluik, MSc, of the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam, and colleagues found that patients with diabetes who were moderately active had a lower risk of total mortality compared with those who were completely inactive. Further, a separate prospective study, carried out by Frank Hu, MD, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues, results showed that a minimum of 150 minutes of weekly weight training lowered men’s risk of developing diabetes by 34%.
For Sluik’s study, researchers conducted a prospective cohort investigation of 5859 patients in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) who had diabetes when the study began. 755 patients died after an average follow up of 9.4 years. For those who were active, as well as a lower risk for total mortality, there was a reduced risk for cardiovascular-related death, and this was especially true for walking. Those who walked at least 2 hours per week had a significantly lower risk of heart disease death. Though these findings are only preliminary, the researchers asserted that the study ‘provides empirical evidence supporting the widely shared view that persons with diabetes should engage in regular physical activity’.
For the second study, Hu and colleagues looked at data from the prospective cohort study of 32,002 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study from 1990-2008. During that time there were 2278 new cases of diabetes, and the team discovered a dose-response relationship between a lower risk of diabetes and an increasing amount of time spent on weight training or aerobic exercise. Those who did 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week reduced their diabetes risk by 52%, and those who combined this with weight training had even better results, even if the weight training was minimal. However, the team did allow that it’s difficult to generalise from this study, as it was conducted among working health professionals who were mostly white.
However, the benefits of exercise to diabetic patients are hardly new information, as previous studies have show exercise lowers glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, improves insulin sensitivity, and beneficially effects inflammation, hypertension, and endothelial function. Gordon Weir, MD, of the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston, who was not involved in either study, said ‘I’m hopeful this evidence will encourage physicians to be more aggressive with educating patient who are prediabetic or diabetic to exercise as recommended in the guidelines’.