Health
Diabetes prevention linked to specific type of exercise, study shows
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New research suggests that picking up the weights may be more effective than hitting the treadmill when it comes to controlling blood sugar and preventing diabetes.
A team from Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute has discovered that resistance training — like weightlifting or bodyweight exercises — may do a better job at improving how the body manages sugar and fat.
To understand how different types of exercise affect metabolism, researchers fed mice a high-fat diet to mimic human obesity and insulin resistance, which are two major risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
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They split the mice into two workout groups: endurance trainers that ran on a wheel, and strength trainers that had to lift a weighted door to get their food, which mimics squatting under increasing loads.
After several weeks, both exercise groups showed big health benefits compared to sedentary mice — including less body fat, better blood sugar control and more efficient insulin use — but the “weightlifting” mice came out ahead.
Mice that “lifted weights” controlled blood sugar better than those that ran, even when on a high-fat diet. (iStock)
“Our data showed that both running and weightlifting reduce fat in the abdomen and under the skin, and improve blood glucose maintenance, with better insulin signaling in skeletal muscle,” Zhen Yan, professor and director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC’s Center for Exercise Medicine Research, said in a press release.
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“Importantly, weightlifting outperforms running in these health benefits.”
The mice that lifted weights not only burned off more fat under their skin, but also reduced the more dangerous visceral fat, the kind that wraps around internal organs and raises diabetes risk.
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They also cleared sugar from their blood more effectively than the runners.
Weightlifting didn’t just make mice stronger — their bodies also handled sugar more efficiently and resisted diabetes. (iStock)
These benefits weren’t simply because they built more muscle, the researchers found — the resistance workouts also triggered unique changes in metabolism and muscle-signaling that helped control glucose levels more efficiently.
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While this research was conduced in mice and not humans, it adds to a growing body of evidence showing that strength training is a powerful tool for metabolic health.
It could also be encouraging for people who can’t do long bouts of cardio, highlighting how resistance training may offer a good alternative.
Scientists say combining cardio and strength training could deliver the best results for long-term metabolic health. (iStock)
“The findings also bring good news for people who, for any number of reasons, cannot engage in endurance-type exercise,” Yan said. “Weight training has equal, if not better, anti-diabetes benefits.”
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The researchers recommend combining cardio and strength training for best results, creating a balanced approach that targets the heart, muscles and metabolism.
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“The take-home message is that you should do both endurance and resistance exercise, if possible, to get the most health benefit,” Yan added.
The study was published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science.
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More than 59% of women may have high blood pressure by 2050, according to a new report from the American Heart Association.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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