The CDC says 79 million American adults are pre-diabetic and will develop diabetes in the future. The number of patients diagnosed with diabetes continues to rise, and researchers hope to discover the reasons for the continued increase in incidence. johnThyfault, assistant professor of internal medicine and the department of nutrition and exercise physiology at MU, found that stopping daily exercise affects the ability to regulate blood sugar, suggesting that lack of exercise may be a significant contributor to the development of type 2 diabetes.
“We now have evidence that physical activity plays an important role in maintaining daily blood glucose levels.” Thyfault said, “Even short-term reductions in exercise to stop regular exercise can rapidly cause changes in the body that are associated with diabetes and occur before weight gain and obesity.”
Thyfault studied the relationship between low exercise and high postprandial blood glucose levels (PPG), the peak rise in blood glucose after a meal. ppg is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. thyfault found that when healthy people cut exercise by half over three days, their postprandial PPG doubled.
“A moderate amount of exercise can help the body maintain glucose homeostasis and lower PPG, but a short period of inactivity can quickly disrupt glucose homeostasis.” Thyfault said, “This study shows that physical activity directly affects health, and that this effect can be prevented.”
In the study, Thyfault monitored the exercise and diet of healthy, moderately active young adults. Subjects then reduced their exercise by 50 percent for three consecutive days and found their diets doubled compared to when they exercised more. Subjects carried continuous glucose monitors that showed a significant increase in PPG during periods of inactivity. A sharp rise in postprandial glucose is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
“People would do well to take 10,000 steps a day,” Thyfault said. “Recent evidence suggests that Americans are only getting half that amount of exercise, or 5,000 steps a day. Continued lack of exercise leads to decreased blood sugar regulation and increases the risk of diabetes.”
The study was published in the Journal of Sports Medicine. It was sponsored by the Missouri State University Institute for Clinical and Translational Medicine, the MU Research Council and the National Institutes of Health. The Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology is co-led by the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, the College of Human Environmental Sciences and the School of Medicine. thyfault also holds a part-time appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine.