DOC News July 1, 2007
Volume 4 Number 7 p. 18
© 2007 American Diabetes Association
Light-Intensity Physical Activity Improves Glucose Control
Light-intensity physical activity can benefit glucose control, a recent
Diabetes Care study suggests.
Researchers studied the effects of physical activity in 67 men and 106
women without diagnosed diabetes. They performed blood tests to measure
fasting blood glucose levels and oral glucose tolerance. They also measured
physical activity with accelerometers for 7 days, and grouped the resulting
activity levels into three categories: sedentary; light intensity; and
moderate to vigorous intensity.
When other potentially confounding effects, such as waist size, were
controlled for, a sedentary level of physical activity was positively
associated with higher 2-hour plasma glucose levels. All intensity levels of
physical activity were associated with lower 2-hour plasma glucose
levels.
"These data provide the first objective evidence that light-intensity
physical activity is beneficially associated with blood glucose and that
sedentary time is unfavorably associated with blood glucose," the group
concludes. "Substituting light-intensity physical activity for
television viewing or other sedentary activities may be a practical and
achievable prevention strategy to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and
cardiovascular risk."
Healy GN, Dunstan DW, Salmon J, et al.: Objectively
measured light-intensity physical activity is independently associated with
2-h plasma glucose. Diabetes Care 30: 1384-1389, 2007.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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