Many people worldwide have type
2 diabetes, a metabolic condition in which the body cannot properly regulate
blood sugar levels. Experts already know that lack of physical activity can
contribute to the risk of diabetes, but what type of exercise might lower it?
Recently, researchers have been
looking into the effects of exercise on the risk of type 2 diabetes,
asking what kind of physical activity might help decrease it the most.
These researchers hail from Iowa
State University in Ames, the University of South Carolina in Columbia, the
Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA, and the Ochsner
Clinical School at the University of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane,
Australia.
Their findings — which appeared earlier today
in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings — indicate that people
with moderate muscle strength, maintained and consolidated through resistance
exercise, may be at a considerably lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
This effect, the scientists
note, is independent of other factors such as cardiorespiratory fitness. They also
point out that moderate muscle mass seems to be enough to provide this benefit
— increasing it does not lower risk any further.
Associate professor Duck-chul
Lee, from Iowa State University, explains that the current findings suggest
that even moderate resistance training can be beneficial in this respect.
However, he cautions that it is difficult to establish how much is enough.
"Naturally, people will
want to know how often to lift weights or how much muscle mass they need, but
it's not that simple," notes Lee.
"As researchers, we have
several ways to measure muscle strength, such as grip strength or bench press.
More work is needed to determine the proper dose of resistance exercise, which
may vary for different health outcomes and populations," he continues.
Over 30 percent lower risk of
diabetes
For this study, the scientists
used the data of 4,681 adults aged 20–100, none of whom had diabetes at baseline. They accessed this
information through the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. All the
participants agreed to do chest and leg presses to allow the researchers to
measure individual muscle strength.
To provide more accuracy, the
investigators also adjusted these measurements for several potentially
confounding factors, including age, biological sex, and body weight.
All the participants also completed relevant health exams both at baseline and
at the follow-up stage.
The researchers found that those who exhibited moderate muscle mass had a
32 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes. This effect appears independently of
other lifestyle factors, such as frequent drinking and smoking, as well as of
obesity and high blood pressure — both of which are risk factors for diabetes.
Still, the investigators were
unable to obtain detailed information about all the participants' resistance
training habits. However, the data they managed to collect from one small group
suggested that there may be a moderate association between a person's muscle
strength and how often they participate in this type of exercise.
"You're not necessarily
going to see the results of resistance training on your bathroom scale,"
cautions study co-author Angelique Brellenthin, "but there are several
health benefits."
She adds that "[i]t may
help lower your risk for type 2 diabetes even though you do not lose body
weight, and we know maintaining muscle mass helps us stay functional and
independent throughout life."
Brellenthin acknowledges that so
far, it remains unclear just how often, and at what intensity, a person should
engage in resistance training to lower their diabetes risk. Future studies will
need to address this gap.
Despite this, she points out
that the recent findings suggest that even a little resistance training is,
most likely, better than none at all, and that people should not feel as though
they have to jump right into the most difficult exercises to reap the benefits.
"We want to encourage small amounts
of resistance training and it doesn't need to be complicated. You can get a
good resistance workout with squats, planks, or lunges. Then, as you build
strength, you can consider adding free weights or weight machines."
Angelique Brellenthin
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