Research explores why interval walking training is better than continuous walking training

For glucose metabolism in people with diabetes

2014-08-05

(Press-News.org) New research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) suggests that training with alternating levels of walking intensity (interval training) could be better than walking at a constant speed to help manage blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. The research is by Dr Thomas Solomon, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues.

The effects of exercise on blood sugar (glycaemic) control in individuals with type 2 diabetes are well documented but the optimal exercise intensity and type remains to be defined. Traditionally, high-intensity exercise has not been recommended for individuals with type 2 diabetes due to a fear of inducing injuries and discouraging patients from continuing with the exercise programme. Nevertheless, high-intensity exercise improves glycaemic control more than low-intensity exercise.

In other research by these same authors, it has been shown that interval-walking training (IWT), (where the intensity of the training alternates), more favourably improves glycaemic control in people with type 2 diabetes when compared to continuous-walking training (CWT) matched to have the same overall energy expenditure. In this new study, the authors analyse the potential mechanisms behind this effect.

Individuals with type 2 diabetes were randomised to 3 groups: a control group (CON), an IWT group and an energy-expenditure matched CWT group. Training groups were prescribed highly standardised but free-living and unsupervised training, five sessions per week (60 min/session). A hyperglycaemic clamp was used to measure insulin secretion (a standard method whereby glucose is infused at a constant rate and then used to work out how much insulin is being produced). Glucose isotope tracers were infused to measure glucose metabolism, and skeletal muscle biopsies were taken to assess insulin signalling. These variables were measured before and after a 4-month intervention.

The researchers found that improved blood sugar control was only evident in the IWT group, and this was likely to be caused by IWT-induced increases in insulin sensitivity and increased peripheral glucose disposal, indicative of improved glucose metabolism No changes occurred in the CWT or CON groups. Furthermore, only IWT improved insulin signalling in skeletal muscle.

The authors conclude: "The most important finding of this study is that IWT, but not CWT, increased insulin sensitivity without a compensatory decrease in insulin secretion, thus improving the overall impact of insulin on blood sugar in these patients."

They add: "Whether these beneficial effects of IWT continue and result in better health outcomes in the long term must be determined in order to justify the clinical utility of interval training for people with type 2 diabetes."

INFORMATION: END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study predicts hepatitis C will become a rare disease in 22 years

2014-08-05

Effective new drugs and screening would make hepatitis C a rare disease by 2036, according to a computer simulation conducted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The results of the simulation are reported in the August 5 edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. "Hepatitis C (HCV) is the leading cause of liver cancer and accounts for more than 15,000 deaths in the U.S. each year," said Jagpreet Chhatwal, Ph.D., assistant professor of Health Services Research at MD Anderson, and ...

Life expectancy gap between blacks and whites in the US varies considerably across states

2014-08-04

Racial differences in life expectancy have declined nationally but still vary substantially across U.S. states, according to a new study by McGill University researchers. The findings, published in the journal Health Affairs, suggest that state policies could play a key role in further reducing racial differences in mortality. The researchers calculated annual state-specific life expectancies for blacks and whites from 1990 to 2009 and found that progress was uneven across states during the past two decades. "Prior studies in the United States have shown that, for the ...

Medical consultations for surgical patients examined amid payment changes

2014-08-04

The use of medical consultations for surgical patients varied widely across hospitals, especially among patients without complications, in a study of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing colectomy (to remove all or part of their colon) or total hip replacement (THR). Internists and medical subspecialists are frequently called on to assess surgical patients and to help manage their care. As payers move toward bundled payments, hospitals need to better understand variations in practice and resources used during patient care. The authors examined hospital medical consultations ...

Identifying kids, teens with kidney damage risk after first urinary tract infection

2014-08-04

Bottom Line: Children and adolescents with an abnormal kidney ultrasonography finding or with a combination of a fever of at least 102 degrees and infection with an organism other than E.coli appear to be at high risk for renal scarring with their first urinary tract infection (UTI). Author: Nader Shaikh, M.D., of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and colleagues. Background: UTIs are a common and potentially serious bacterial infection in young children. UTIs can lead to permanent renal scarring in up to 15 percent of cases in this population. Significant scarring ...

Study examines midlife hypertension, cognitive change over 20-year period

2014-08-04

Bottom Line: Hypertension in middle age (48 to 67 years) was associated with a greater, although still a modest, decline in cognition over a 20-year period compared with individuals who had normal blood pressure. Author: Rebecca F. Gottesman, M.D., Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues. Background: Evidence suggests hypertension is a risk factor for cognitive change and dementia and midlife hypertension may be the stronger risk factor. How the Study Was Conducted: Authors used the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities ...

Higher chance of hospital death found in areas where emergency departments have closed

2014-08-04

In the first analysis of its kind, UC San Francisco research shows that emergency department closures can have a ripple effect on patient outcomes at nearby hospitals. In a study of more than 16 million emergency admissions to California hospitals between 1999 and 2010, researchers found that patients who were admitted to facilities located in the vicinity of an emergency department (ED) that had recently closed experienced 5 percent higher odds of dying than patients admitted to hospitals that were not near a recently closed ED. The odds of dying were even higher for ...

Poor people with diabetes up to 10 times likelier to lose a limb than wealthier patients

2014-08-04

It's no secret that poverty is bad for your health. Now a new UCLA study demonstrates that California diabetics who live in low-income neighborhoods are up to 10 times more likely to lose a toe, foot or leg than patients residing in more affluent areas of the state. Earlier diagnosis and proper treatment could prevent many of these amputations, the researchers say. The study authors hope their findings, published in the August issue of Health Affairs, will motivate public agencies and medical providers to reach out to patients at risk of late intervention and inspire ...

Cost-saving effort in health care falls short of goals, study finds

2014-08-04

A pilot program intended to implement and test a cost-saving strategy for orthopedic procedures at hospitals in California failed to meet its goals, succumbing to recruitment challenges, regulatory uncertainty, administrative burden and concerns about financial risk, according to a new RAND Corporation study. The outcome represents a disappointing effort to widely adopt bundled payments, a much-touted strategy that pays doctors and hospitals one fee for performing a procedure or caring for an illness. The strategy is seen as one of the most-promising ways to curb health ...

An embryonic cell's fate is sealed by the speed of a signal

2014-08-04

VIDEO: To visualize cells' responses to the signals that ultimately lead them to choose a fate, the researchers engineered a protein involved in this response, Smad4, to glow. In response to... Click here for more information. When embryonic cells get the signal to specialize the call can come quickly. Or it can arrive slowly. Now, new research from Rockefeller University suggests the speed at which a cell in an embryo receives that signal has an unexpected influence on that ...

Scientists uncover combustion mechanism to better predict warming by wildfires

2014-08-04

Scientists have uncovered key attributes of so-called "brown carbon" from wildfires, airborne atmospheric particles that may have influenced current climate models that failed to take the material's warming effects into account. The work was described by a collaborative team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Montana in the journal Nature Geosciences this week. "Biomass burning and wildfires emit fine particulates that are toxic to humans and can warm or cool climate. While their toxicity is certain, their ...

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Research explores why interval walking training is better than continuous walking training

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: