Study: Pumping Iron May Reduce Chances of Developing Diabetes
ABC World News reported on a Harvard School of Public Health study that shows men who lift weights--combined with aerobic exercise--were less likely to develop diabetes. The study evaluated 32,000 male participants from 1990 to 2008 and found that weight training for at least 150 minutes per week was independently associated with a lower risk of diabetes. The research also indicates that lifting weights for 30 minutes a day (5 times a week), may reduce a man's chance of developing Type 2 diabetes by as much as 34 percent, and when combined with aerobic exercise like brisk walking or running, as much as 59 percent. According to the study's author, Walter Willett, MD, PhD, these stats are the result of the body lowering its resistance to Insulin when training. "When we use our muscles in weight training, our body's insulin resistance goes down meaning we more readily move blood sugar from the bloodstream into the cells and we require less insulin to do that so that the blood sugar levels stay lower and put less demand on the pancreas to produce insulin," explained Willett. See more here - http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesNews/type-diabetes-risk-drops-weight-training/story?id=16939125