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Aerobic Exercise and Resistance Training Benefit Glycemic Control

Physical activity — especially aerobic exercise and resistance training combined — can significantly lower hemoglobin A_1c levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Aerobic exercise and resistance training can improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Researchers recently assessed the combination of these two types of physical activity in a randomized trial: 251 inactive adults with type 2 diabetes were assigned to aerobic exercise (45-minute sessions), resistance training (7 different exercises on weight machines), both types of activity, or neither. Exercise-group patients performed their assigned activities three times weekly.

After 6 months, hemoglobin A_1c values had decreased 0.4 to 0.5 percentage points more among aerobic-exercise or resistance-training patients than among controls. Compared with patients engaging in just one type of exercise, those combining the two types had additional declines of 0.5 to 0.6 percentage points. Adverse events were much more common in patients who exercised, with 23% to 28% of those in the exercise groups restricting their activity because of injury compared with 14% of controls.

Comment: One limitation of the study design is that patients randomized to aerobic exercise plus resistance training spent more time exercising than the other groups, making it difficult to determine whether the benefits resulted from more activity in general or from combining the two specific types of exercise. In addition, injuries were not uncommon. Nonetheless, physical activity, in particular a combination of aerobic and resistance training, can have substantial benefit for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.

— Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine October 4, 2007

Citation(s):

Sigal RJ et al. Effects of aerobic training, resistance training, or both on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes: A randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2007 Sep 18; 147:357.

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