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a widely prescribed diabetes Medicine can blunt beneficial effects Of Exercise In patients, a new study shows.
More than 450 million people worldwide suffer from type 2 diabetes – with this number increasing year by year -And treatment often depends on medication as well as lifestyle changes.
For almost half a century now, doctors have been prescribing and recommending metformin daily physical activity To diabetic patients. The logic is that two proven treatments together give better results.
Metformin lowers blood sugar levels by inhibiting the liver’s glucose production and helping cells use their own insulin more effectively.
Now, however, researchers say that metformin may impair the beneficial effects of exercise.
“Most health care providers consider one plus one equals two,” says Rutgers University kinesiology student Steven Malin, author of the new study published in. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Said. “The problem is that most evidence shows the benefits of metformin blunts exercise,
Researchers say the latest study raises urgent questions for doctors about how the two treatments can be better combined.
The study involved 72 adults at risk for metabolic syndrome, a group of conditions that increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease, and divided them into groups of people who did high-intensity exercise while taking a placebo, did high-intensity exercise with metformin, did low-intensity exercise with placebo, and did low-intensity exercise with metformin.
For four months, researchers tracked changes in the function of participants’ blood vessels under insulin stimulation, a process known to help vessels dilate and deliver oxygen, hormones and nutrients after a meal.
They found that exercise helped blood vessels respond better to insulin, leading to more blood flow to the muscles, but adding metformin diminished these improvements.
It appears that metformin reduces the benefits of aerobic exercise and reduces the positive effects on inflammation and fasting glucose.
Researchers suspect that the process that makes metformin effective may block the body’s ability to fully respond to physical training.
“Regardless of intensity, exercise training improved blood vessel function,” Dr. Malin said.
“Metformin blunted that observation, suggesting that one type of exercise intensity is no better with the drug for blood vessel health. People taking metformin also did not gain fitness. This means their physical function is not getting better and this may lead to long-term health risks.”
The researchers called for further studies to find strategies that could preserve the benefits of both exercise and metformin.
“We need to figure out how to best recommend exercise with metformin,” Dr. Malin said. “We also need to consider how other medications interact with exercise to develop better guidelines for doctors to help people reduce their risk of chronic disease.”