KEY POINTS:
New Zealand research shows that combining resistance training, such as weight lifting, with aerobic workouts appears to be more beneficial for diabetics than either form of exercise alone - but effects of exercise on blood sugar levels are small.
Dr Neil Snowling and Dr Will Hopkins of the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) reported in an international scientific journal, Diabetes Care, that the benefits of exercise were similar to those achieved with medication and diet changes.
The article, Effects of Different Modes of Exercise Training on Glucose Control and Risk Factors for Complications in Type 2 Diabetic Patients, said putting all three together could have a more substantial effect.
The two researchers said exercise was a mainstay of therapy for type 2 diabetes, and physical inactivity increased diabetes risk.
To determine which types of exercise might be most helpful in controlling blood sugar levels, they analysed 27 studies covering 1003 patients to determine the effects of different types of exercise on hemoglobin A1C, a measure of how well a person's blood sugar is controlled long-term.
For any type of exercise training lasting 12 weeks or longer, the researchers found, hemoglobin A1C levels fell by 0.8 per cent.
Combining aerobic exercise with resistance training had more of an effect than either type of exercise alone, but more intense exercise programmes did not appear to be more effective, possibly because they were more difficult to sustain.
The exercise had a stronger effect on people with more severe disease, but actual cardiovascular risk reduction with exercise for diabetes patients was small.
They emphasised this did not mean that exercise was not worth the effort, as exercise, diet and medication combined could produce a "moderate or even large" risk reduction.
"All forms of exercise training produce small benefits in the main measure of glucose control," they said. "The effects are similar to those of dietary, drug, and insulin treatments".
- NZPA
