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Intensive
lifestyle changes -- not just modest efforts to increase exercise
and improve eating habits -- are needed if people at risk
for developing diabetes want to keep from getting the disease,
according to researchers at Otago University in Dunedin, New
Zealand.
Insulin
resistance results from a person losing the ability to respond
to insulin and is a risk factor for developing diabetes. Researchers
developed a study to find the extent to which a person's lifestyle
must be altered to improve insulin sensitivity, comparing
current dietary and exercise recommendations with a more intensive
intervention in patients who are insulin resistant.
Researchers randomly assigned 79 non-diabetic, insulin-resistant
patients to either a no intervention group or one of two dietary
and exercise programs.
The "modest"
intervention group, reflecting current dietary and exercise
advice, were asked to get less than 32 percent of total energy
from fat, more than 25 grams of fiber each day, and perform
30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week. The level of
intensity of the physical activity was purposefully not specified
to the participants.
The "intensive"
intervention group was asked to get less than 26 percent of
their total energy from fat, more than 35 grams of fiber per
day, and to exercise to an intensity of 80 percent to 90 percent
of their age-adjusted maximum heart rate for 20 minutes 5
times each week.
At the
end of four months, the intensive group showed a 23 percent
increase in insulin sensitivity compared with only a 9 percent
increase in the modest group, which was about the same as
the control group, according to the study published in Diabetes
Care.
Researchers
believe that the more intense aerobic activity by the "intensive"
group was a key factor in their improved insulin sensitivity,
along with weight loss and diet composition.
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of April 7, 2002
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