American College of Physicians Now Recommends Metformin For Initial Type 2 Diabetes Treatment

February 21st, 2012

Several years ago the American Diabetes Association recommended diet and exercise as the initial treatment for type 2 diabetes. As well as that might work for most people, it is very difficult to stick with diet and exercise to maintain your blood sugar levels. The ADA acknowledged that reality some time ago and added to their guidelines starting newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes with metformin. (Published site)

Thirty Minutes of Exercise Per Week May Help Type 2 Diabetes

December 20, 2011 

Jonathan Little

written by Michael O’Leary

Can’t do 150 minutes of exercise per week? Maybe 30 minutes of intense training each week can help control your type 2 diabetes.

If you have type 2 diabetes and find it hard to fit in the 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week recommended by the American Diabetes Association, there may be a way to get as much benefit from 30 minutes a week, a small new study suggests.

Led by Jonathan Little, of the Departments of Kinesiology and of Pediatrics and Medicine at McMaster University, Ontario, the researchers found that six high-intensity training sessions totaling only 30 minutes per week for two weeks rapidly reduced high blood sugar and increased the capacity of skeletal muscles to use oxygen. (Link to published site)

Exercise and prediabetes

November 9th, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments

written by Michael O’Leary

Dr. Barry Braun

If your doctor has told you that you are prediabetic, exercise training may be your best bet for preventing type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at the Energy Metabolism Laboratory of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst found that men and women with prediabetes who exercised and took a placebo increased their insulin sensitivity by 25 percent to 30 percent more than those who only took metformin and those who took metformin AND exercised.

While the researchers say the difference between exercise-only group and the metformin groups was too small to rule out the possibility that it was simply due to chance, it does show a trend favoring exercise over other actions you might take to prevent developing diabetes. The study was published online Oct. 31, 2011 in Diabetes Care. (Link to published site)

Keep on Truckin… Blood Sugar Control Is Impacted With Even Just Three Days of Inactivity

August 31st, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments

Written by Michael O'Leary

Dr. John Thyfault

People with type 2 diabetes know they should exercise, but a new study shows stopping exercise, even for a short time, impairs blood sugar control even among healthy people who do not have type 2 diabetes.

Led by Dr. John Thyfault, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, nutrition and exercise physiology researchers found that stopping regular physical exercise for as little as three days resulted in changes in gylcemic control linked to development of type 2 diabetes in healthy people. (Link to published site)

Does Exercise Interfere With Metformin?

August 25th, 2011 by Ryan Luce No Comments

written by Michael O’Leary

Sometimes research surprises, especially when the results seem counter-intuitive. Canadian researchers had just such a surprise when their study looking at the impact that drug therapy and exercise have  on people with type 2 diabetes showed that exercise seems to interfere with the glucose-lowering effects of metformin.

Research has shown that metformin reduces blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, and exercise improves insulin sensitivity, so intuitively, one would think doing both would reduce glucose levels even more. But in their small study of 10 people the researchers were surprised to see the opposite occurred. (Link to published site)