The benefits of exercise for diabetics

Many people with diabetes will have been informed about how exercise can benefit their condition by helping to keep their weight down, improve glucose control, and how it can contribute to heart health.  As most diabetics should know, high glucose levels can leave people more prone to heart problems and now new research led by scientists from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine has shown just how valuable exercise is to diabetics, and how it can help improve the heart function in diabetics.

The researchers found that the levels of fatty acids which are generated during exercise can help to counteract the damaging effects of excess glucose and improve the heart's pumping ability.  The study was carried out using a mouse model of type 2 diabetes and has been published in the journal Diabetes; the study examined the effects of glucose and fatty acids and how they influence heart function.

Commenting in a press release, Miguel Aon, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a senior author of the study article, said:

"Our work offers a new view of the role of fatty acids in diabetic hearts under stress, and suggests potential new therapies to improve heart function."

“It has been commonly assumed that fatty acids were detrimental to heart muscle function, but our study showed the opposite to be true in the diabetic heart.”

Anon continues:

“Over time, if the heart muscle is not receiving enough energy, the mechanical and electrical functions required to produce a normal heartbeat become impaired, which leads to cardiomyopathy."

“In our study, we were able to show a cause-and-effect relationship between dysfunction of the mitochondria—the energy-producing components of cells—and the heart’s mechanical and electrical functions, which helps to explain why people with type 2 diabetes develop cardiomyopathy."

“Now that we have shed light on why exercise can improve heart function in people with type 2 diabetes.” 

“The next step is figuring out how to harness that knowledge to prevent heart damage from diabetes, especially among those people who cannot bring their blood sugar levels under good control.”

Stem cells could treat type one diabetes

Many diabetics dream of a cure for their disease, and while there have been some breakthroughs such as pancreatic transplants, there has been little in the way of a real cure.  However, scientists  from the University of British Columbia say that they have reversed diabetes in mice by using stem cells.

Timothy Kieffer, a professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, working alongside scientists from BetaLogics, a company based in New Jersey, have shown that transplanting human stem cells into mice can restore insulin production and reverse diabetes.  However, it should be remembered that this research is in its early stages and how well this would work in humans is unclear, but it is still reason for hope.

Once the stem cell transplant had been completed the mice were gradually weaned off insulin over a 3-4 month period.  The mice were able to maintain good glucose control even when they given high amounts of sugar.

Commenting in a press release, Kieffer said:

"We are very excited by these findings, but additional research is needed before this approach can be tested clinically in humans.”

“The studies were performed in diabetic mice that lacked a properly functioning immune system that would otherwise have rejected the cells. We now need to identify a suitable way of protecting the cells from immune attack so that the transplant can ultimately be performed in the absence of any immunosuppression.”