Pre-diabetics patients can improve vascular reactivity through aerobic exercise

The health benefits of exercise are well known and it can be especially beneficial to diabetics helping to keep circulation healthy, improving glucose control and helping to keep the heart healthy.  Now research presented to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 21st Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress in Philadelphia at the weekend shows that aerobic exercise carried out regularly can improve vascular reactivity to near normal levels even without weight loss.

As part of the research patients at risk of developing diabetes were included and their heart reactivity, which is known to be associated with heart disease, and how it related to exercise, was studied.

It was found that patients exercising for at least 150 minutes a week had near normal vascular reactivity.  Patients also had significant reduction in cholesterol levels – cholesterol is known to contribute to heart disease, and reductions in markers of inflammation, something which can be associated with heart disease.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Sabyasachi Sen, MD, MRCP, FRCP, said:

“Knowing that exercise significantly improves vascular reactivity for pre-diabetic patients is substantial.”

“It appears that the pre-diabetic stage is a therapeutic window when aerobic exercise can make significant improvement in vascular reactivity and bring it back towards normalcy, before these patients progress to overt diabetes. It may be too late in the overt diabetes stage to make significant impact in vascular reactivity with exercise alone.”