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Diabetes 2
Benefits of Exercise |
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Alpha Nutrition Health Education These discussion of diabetes are collected in the Book of Diabetes. You can order an eBook or printed text version separately or as part of a Diabetes Nutritional Rescue Starter Pack
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Exercise can help to help prevent non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. The major causes of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in all affluent countries are the wrong diet and a low level of physical activity. High blood sugar levels can be reduced by exercise and over time exercise and proper diet can prevent the horrendous complications of diabetes. Exercise May be "Best Drug" For Insulin Resistance SyndromeFrom the 56th annual meeting and scientific sessions of the American Diabetes
Association, San Francisco, CA. The remarkable ability of exercise to help prevent type II diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or NIDDM) and cardiovascular disease was described in a symposium on 'Exercise and the Insulin Resistance Syndrome.' Approximately 16 million Americans have diabetes. Type II, the most common form, usually occurs in adults who are over 45, overweight and sedentary. It is the fourth-leading cause of death by disease in the U.S. "Recent research strongly indicates that a sedentary lifestyle is a major cause of coronary heart disease," explained Neil Ruderman, MD, DPhil, professor of medicine and director of the diabetes unit at Boston University Medical Center, who moderated the symposium. sevis requirements employer "Exercise can improve insulin action -- helping control or even prevent type II diabetes -- and also may help lower blood pressure and lipid abnormalities that contribute to heart disease." He suggested that a major component of the recent epidemic of obesity in the U.S. and other countries may be the low level of physical activity that plagues the American public, and this factor may play an even greater role than diet. Speakers at the symposium described the insulin resistance syndrome, characterized by the body's failure to use insulin properly. The syndrome may be an underlying factor in as much as 25% of the cardiovascular disease seen in men and 60 percent of that seen in women. They also described the type of low intensity, prolonged exercise that can substantially improve it and related heart disease risk factors. "The risk of type II diabetes is reduced by 25 % and of heart disease by 50 % among people who are moderately vigorously active, compared to those who are sedentary but otherwise similar," noted Ralph S. Paffenberger, MD, PhD, emeritus professor of epidemiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The syndrome was described by William B. Kannel, MD, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University and former director of the famed Framingham Study, which has followed more than 5,000 men and women for signs of heart disease since 1949. "In the Framingham Study, we determined that certain risk factors for heart disease tend to cluster and that insulin resistance and diabetes may be fundamental to this clustering," said Dr. Kannel. He described a theoretical chain of events leading to atherosclerosis that provides a rational explanation for the clustering. баня ходосеевка It is believed that abdominal obesity promotes insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, as the pancreas increases insulin production to try to meet metabolic needs. This results in raised triglyceride levels and reduced HDL cholesterol (the so-called "good" cholesterol). This combination of lipid abnormalities is often associated with small, dense particles of LDL (the "bad" cholesterol), which are highly atherogenic. Furthermore, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia tend to promote glucose intolerance and diabetes, which independently accelerates atherogenesis. Finally, insulin resistance tends to increase re-absorption of sodium from kidney tubules, thus increasing blood volume and producing hypertension, which can also accelerate atherogenesis. Insulin resistance is associated not with the total amount of excess fat but with how much of it is located in the abdominal cavity, called centralized fat or visceral obesity, explained Jean-Pierre Despres, PhD, professor of medicine and physical education and director of the lipid research center at Laval Universit Hospital in Quebec. Hip or thigh fat is not associated with major health problems, but abdominal fat puts one at high risk for diabetes and heart disease. One of every four men age 40 or over have excess abdominal fat and insulin resistance and women are at greater risk of accumulating visceral fat after menopause if they do not take hormone replacement therapy. Visceral obesity does not necessarily cause high total cholesterol levels but, rather, is associated with 20 to 25% elevations of the specific lipoprotein component, apo-B, which is a better predictor of ischemic heart disease and is present in those with insulin resistance syndrome. The combination of high insulin levels and high apo-B, which is observed in patients with insulin resistance syndrome, is associated with an eleven-fold increased risk of heart disease, noted Dr. Despres: "Exercise is probably the best medication on the market to treat insulin resistance syndrome. Our studies show that low intensity, prolonged exercise -- such as a daily brisk walk of 45 minutes to an hour -- will substantially reduce insulin levels and reduce apo-B concentrations, thus reducing the risk of both diabetes and heart disease." Further support for the positive role of exercise was provided by Dr. Paffenberger, who reported on studies following nearly 50,000 former students at Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania. Based on questionnaires that reviewed the activity levels and subsequent health of these subjects, born between 1894 and 1934, the researchers found that a physically active and fit way of life reduces the risk of both type II diabetes and coronary heart disease and results in extended longevity.
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