By Jane Collingwood
Researchers have found that diabetics benefit from a combination of aerobic and resistance training.
The ideal form of exercise to recommend to patients with type 2 diabetes is unclear. So Dr Timothy Church of Louisiana State University, USA, and colleagues took a closer look.
They examined the benefits of aerobic training alone, resistance training alone, and a combination of both, on blood glucose levels in 262 sedentary middle-aged men and women in Louisiana with type 2 diabetes.
In the Journal of the American Medical Association, they explain that 41 participants were assigned to the no exercise group, 73 to resistance training, 72 to aerobic exercise, and 76 to a combination of the two for nine months.
Blood glucose was monitored by testing haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels. Higher levels indicate a greater average glucose concentration in blood over the previous six to eight weeks.
Compared with the no exercise group, HbA1c fell significantly by an average of 0.34 per cent in the combination exercise group. Average HbA1c levels did not fall significantly in the resistance training or the aerobic groups compared with no exercise.
Furthermore, only the combination exercise group showed improved maximum oxygen consumption. But all the exercise groups lost two to three centimetres from their waists.
In an editorial, Dr Ronald Sigal of the University of Calgary, Canada, writes: "Based on the results of this trial, patients with type 2 diabetes who wish to maximise the effects of exercise on their glycaemic control should perform both aerobic and resistance exercise.
"The trial clarifies that, given a specific amount of time to invest in exercise, it is more beneficial to devote some time to each form of exercise rather than devoting all the time to just one form of exercise."
Church, T. S. et al. Effects of Aerobic and Resistance Training on Hemoglobin A1c Levels in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304, November 24, 2010, pp. 2253-62.
Sigal, R. J. and Kenny, G. P. Combined Aerobic and Resistance Exercise for Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304, November 24, 2010, pp. 2298-99.
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