Vigorous
Exercise Treats Diabetes
An exciting study from Yale shows that intense
exercise is far more effective in preventing and controlling
diabetes than exercising at a leisurely pace (Journal
of Applied Physiology, January 2006). That means that
the diabetic who exercises hard enough to sweat and raises
his heart rate above 80 percent of its maximum will be far
less likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes, blindness, deafness,
kidney failure and all the other terrible consequences of
uncontrolled diabetes.
Inactive, healthy, non-obese women over 72
years of age were started in training programs of hard (80
percent of aerobic capacity), moderate (65 percent) and easy
(50 percent). All three groups did the same amount of work,
burning 300 calories per session. The intense group had a
great improvement in their ability to use sugar and suppress
fat formation, while the low intensity group had little benefit.
That means that intense exercise can help
to both prevent and treat diabetes. The most tissue damage
occurs immediately after eating when blood sugar levels rise
the highest. After you eat, sugar goes from the intestines
into the bloodstream. The only places that sugar can be stored
are in your muscles and liver. When your muscles are not exercised,
they are full of sugar and sugar has no place to go after
it enters your bloodstream. On the other hand, when your muscles
are exercised, they empty their stored sugar. Then when you
eat, sugar can go from the intestines into the bloodstream
and then immediately into the muscles, preventing a high rise
in blood sugar.
The important news from this study is that
the more intensely you exercise, the greater the protection
from developing diabetes and the better the control of your
diabetes if you already have it. A word of caution: 75 percent
of diabetics die from heart disease and some people can suffer
heart attacks during intense exercise, so check with your
doctor first.
Why Diabetes Can Be Caused By Obesity
We've known for many years that being overweight
increases risk for diabetes, but researchers now are explaining
why and at the same time, offering new hope for a cure.
A paper in the Journal of Cell Metabolism
(March 2005), explains that being overweight fills your fat
cells so they can’t store much more fat. Then the body
stores fat in muscles and liver. This causes muscles to produce
a chemical called PPAR-Alpha which causes muscles cells to
bring in and burn more fat, which prevents muscles from using
sugar for energy. So blood sugar levels rise. The fat in muscle
cells also blocks insulin receptors from grabbing onto insulin
which prevents insulin from driving sugar into cells. This
drives blood sugar levels even higher.
Daniel P. Kelly, director of the Center for
Cardiovascular Research at the Washington University in St
Louis, genetically engineered two different types of mice:
one type that made extra PPAR-alpha in their muscles and another
that lacked that molecule. They found that mice that overproduce
PPAR-alpha become diabetic even though they are thin, because
the muscle cells can burn only fat for energy, which prevents
muscle cells from using sugar. This causes blood sugar levels
to rise very high and the mice to become diabetic. On the
other hand, mice who did not make PPAR-alpha grew very fat,
but did not develop diabetes. If the scientists could make
a drug to block PPAR-alpha, perhaps they could prevent
diabetes. This research explains why the majority of people
who develop diabetics are also obese.
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