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Research News

September 2007: A 10-second full–out sprint performed just before engaging in moderate-intensity exercise may help prevent early falls in after-exercise blood sugars according to research done in Perth, Australia. Investigators tested 7 complication-free males 21.6 years of age (±3.6 yrs) with type 1 diabetes and A1C’s in the 7.3% to 7.5% range.

Subjects were randomized into either a test or control group. All participants injected their usual morning insulin dose and ate their normal breakfast. When post-meal blood sugars fell to ~11mmol/L, participants in the test group were asked to perform a 10-second all-out sprint immediately before cycling at a moderate-intensity pace for 20 minutes. The control group was asked to just rest immediately before cycling.
Results showed that sprinting did not affect the rapid fall in blood sugars during the moderate-intensity exercise session. During the 45 minute period of recovery after exercising, blood sugars in the control trial fell by ~1.23 mmol/L while the blood sugars of the participants in the sprint trial remained stable, only later decreasing at a similar rate to those in the control trial. Meaning, the 10-second sprint helped to prevent immediate after-exercise lows, but not delayed after exercise lows. This is due to a significant increase in noradrenaline and lactate levels during the sprint. Authors did caution that this research was done in a controlled laboratory setting and that before trying this at home, you know how your body reacts to intensive and moderate periods of exercise. More information about this research can be found in the September 2007 issue of the journal Diabetologia.

Summer 2007: Researchers in 14 centers in the US and 3 confirmed sites in Canada (Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg) are working with affiliate sites and participating physicians in Type 1 Diabetes TRIALNET, to begin clinical studies using oral insulin to prevent or delay type 1 diabetes in people not yet diagnosed, but who are at risk for type 1 diabetes. Research has shown that the pancreas is resilient and more than half its insulin-producing beta cells must be irreversibly destroyed before an individual develops symptoms of diabetes. Researchers are studying whether an insulin capsule taken by mouth once a day can prevent or delay onset of type 1 diabetes.

An earlier trial suggested that oral insulin might delay type 1 diabetes for about 4 years in some people with islet cell autoantibodies in their blood. The presence of these autoantibodies alerts physicians to the destruction of insulin-producing cells up to 10 years before symptoms set in and indicates an individual is at greater risk. For a person with high-risk genes (relatives with type 1 diabetes) and all three autoantibodies, the risk of developing diabetes in the next 5 years is greater than 50%. Animal studies have also suggested that insulin taken orally might even prevent type 1 diabetes.