Controlling Diabetes with Exercise New Findings

   A new study done on individuals with type II diabetes finds that a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training may offer the best improvements of HbA1c levels. This study compared the combination exercise to both aerobic alone, resistance exercise alone, or no exercise at all. In the research study the over 250 study subjects were put on a nine-month exercise program that included either aerobic exercise alone, resistance training alone, a combination of both, or no exercise.

    The exercise groups performed their prescribed program just three times per week. 63% of the subjects were women making this one of the first studies to have a significant effect on women with diabetes. The research done by Dr. Timothy Church at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge will appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association later this year and is part of the preventative medicine biomedicine research group. During the study period the individuals on the combination exercise program had an easier time keeping their HBA1c levels below 7% the generally recommended level for individuals with type II diabetes.

   In addition fewer people in the combination exercise group needed to take more medications over the study time period than the other three groups. While previous research has highlighted that exercise can dramatically improve both diabetic and non-diabetics health; this research is some of the first to look at optimizing a specific type of exercise program for type II diabetic individuals. Given a limited amount of time any individual has to invest in exercise, say the editorial accompanying the research paper, it is more beneficial to do a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training rather than simply one type of exercise. It is also important to note, says Dr. Ronal Sigal, who reviewed the paper and participated in the editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation, that when the researchers followed up with the subjects after the study had finished, those on the combination exercise program still had the lowest diabetes medication use. By keeping medication us low, the chances of those individuals having a healthier, longer life, is enhanced greatly.

    According to Dr. Church, doctors can now look at individuals diagnosed with type II diabetes and tell them that the best prescription for exercise includes a combination of aerobic and resistance training. To learn more about subjects like this and to start changing your body, please visit us at New Lifestyle Diet.