Author Interviews, Diabetes, Exercise - Fitness, JCEM / 24.08.2013
Diabetes: Exercise Improves Glycemic Control if Pancreatic Beta-Cell Function Remains
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Thomas P. J. Solomon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences
Department of Biomedical Sciences | Cellular & Metabolic Research Section
Panum Institute 4.5 | University of Copenhagen | Blegdamsvej 3B | 2200 Copenhagen N | Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Solomon: The main findings were that when impaired glucose tolerant and type 2 diabetic subjects underwent 3-4 months of regular aerobic exercise training, although the majority of subjects (86-90%) increased increased VO2max, lost weight, and increased insulin sensitivity, only around two-thirds of subjects improved glycemic control (HbA1c, fasting glucose, and 2-hour OGTT glucose). The novel finding was that the changes in glycemic control were congruent with changes in oral glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). We also found that exercise training-induced changes in glycemic control were related to changes in GSIS (P0.05), but not insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, we found that training-induced improvements in glycemic control were largest in subjects with greater pre-training GSIS, i.e. in subjects with greatest beta-cell function. And, we noted that high pre-training hyperglycemia blunted exercise-induced improvements in beta-cell compensation for insulin resistance.


