Copyright Newsweek
Running is great for burning calories, but when it comes to preventing diabetes and obesity, another type of exercise may have the edge. Exercise medicine researcher Zhen Yan and colleagues at Virginia Tech looked at how endurance exercises (like running) and resistance exercises (like weightlifting) affected mice fed a high-fat diet—a common model for studying obesity and diabetes. The team found that both running and lifting helped the body clear extra sugar from the blood. However, weightlifting-style exercise was better at cutting body fat, improving blood sugar control and lowering insulin resistance—all important for preventing and managing diabetes, a condition that affects an estimated 38.4 million people in the United States. “The findings also bring good news for people who, for any number of reasons, cannot engage in endurance-type exercise,” Yan said in a statement. “Weight training has equal, if not better, anti-diabetes benefits.” Dr Stuart Hesketh, Senior Lecturer in Sports Medicine at University of Lancashire in England, told Newsweek that weight training works large, fast-twitch muscles that don’t get used as much during activities like running or cycling. Hesketh, who was not involved in the study, said: “Training these fibres increases muscle mass and boosts resting glucose uptake capacity, giving more ‘storage space’ for blood sugar. “Weight training also activates unique molecular signals,” he said, adding two examples that the mTOR protein—which regulates cell growth and survival—and calcium pathways that boost muscle protein synthesis and improve insulin sensitivity, independent of body fat changes. What the Researchers Did The team created something completely new—a mouse model of weightlifting. In this setup, mice lived in cages where they had to lift a weighted lid to reach their food. The lid got heavier over time, just like increasing weights in human strength training. In the “runner” group, meanwhile, mice had access to a wheel to mimic aerobic exercise. Other mice stayed sedentary. For eight weeks, researchers tracked the mice’s weight; fat levels; heart and muscle health; and blood sugar control. They also studied the rodent's muscle tissue to see how it responded at the molecular level. “Our data showed that both running and weightlifting reduce fat in the abdomen and under the skin, and improve blood glucose maintenance, with better insulin signaling in skeletal muscle,” Yan said. But, he added: “Importantly, weightlifting outperforms running in these health benefits.” ‘Promising’ Findings Dr. Nicolas Berger, Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise at Teesside University, England, told Newsweek that the findings are likely to be true. “But with caveats,” Berger, who wasn’t involved in the studym said: “The molecular pathways that improve insulin sensitivity and reduce visceral fat are highly conserved between mice and humans, and decades of human trials show that both endurance and resistance exercise can prevent or manage type 2 diabetes.” Berger explained there’s more to obesity and metabolic health than what happens in the body. Aspects like lifestyle, emotions and social influences also matter—and you can not recreate those in lab mice, he cautioned. “Building and maintaining muscle through regular resistance training is especially important with age, since greater lean mass improves glucose regulation, supports mobility and reduces long-term metabolic risk," Berger said. “So, while these findings are promising, real-world results depend on long-term lifestyle change and exercise adherence, not just biology." Do you have a tip on a health story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about diabetes management? Let us know via health@newsweek.com. Reference
