Exercise and metabolic
5 papers in the library, strongest Moderate.
Graded Moderate · Pooled data from 29 trials with random assignment and 7,534 people; weight results varied widely between trials, and data beyond 12 months are missing.
Papers 5
- Making a Digital Pledge Added 665 Steps a DayModeraten = 7,5342026European journal of preventive cardiologyMost people know what they want to change. Doing it is harder, especially with exercise and weight. Digital tools that let people lock in a commitment to a goal ahead of time can help close that gap a little. People who used them walked about 665 more steps a day on average. They also lost close to two kilos more than the comparison groups. Researchers pooled 29 studies with 7,534 adults in total. All of them had a higher risk of heart and metabolic disease. In every study, chance decided who got the digital tool. Afterwards, participants reported less eating driven by emotions and fewer episodes of losing control over food. Body fat percentage, diet quality and taking medication as prescribed also improved. For steps, the studies agreed closely. For weight, their results varied a lot. The analysis cannot say whether the gains last for years. The authors call for trials that follow people for longer than 12 months.
- Cardio Plus Weights Helps Blood Sugar but Shows No Clear BonusModeraten = 1,8532026MaturitasMany people in midlife and beyond mix endurance exercise with strength training. A large analysis finds that this combination went along with better blood sugar than no training at all. But compared with endurance training alone, it showed no clear added benefit. The researchers pooled 21 studies with 1,853 people aged 45 or older. In every study, participants were assigned to their training at random. Compared with groups that did not train, combined training lowered long-term blood sugar, blood sugar and a measure of insulin resistance. That measure reflects how poorly the body responds to the hormone insulin. In people with overweight, it dropped more in partial analyses. For blood fats, there was too little data to draw a clear conclusion. The long-term blood sugar result was the most solid. Here, combined training also showed a small edge over strength training alone. The authors urge caution, because the data were thin. The groups may also have done different total amounts of exercise. So the analysis does not show a consistent advantage over a single type of exercise.
- Diabetes in Later Life: Cardio Plus Weights Lowers Blood SugarModeraten = 2,4612026Frontiers in endocrinologyExercise is part of treating type 2 diabetes. What has been unclear is which kind of training helps older people's blood sugar most, and how much they need. An analysis that pooled 34 studies with 2,461 participants offers some answers. Combining aerobic exercise with strength training came out on top. It lowered HbA1c, a measure of average blood sugar over recent months, by about one percentage point more than in groups that did not train. In every study, people were chosen at random to train or not. Their average age was at least 60. Five types of training were compared: aerobic exercise, strength training, short hard intervals, traditional Chinese exercise forms and the combination. All five lowered long-term blood sugar. For fasting blood sugar, a clear effect showed up for the combination, aerobic exercise alone and the Chinese exercise forms. Benefits became measurable from about 500 MET-minutes a week, a unit that combines time and effort. The authors rate the certainty of the evidence as very low to moderate. Many studies gave patchy details on how well people stuck with training. The analysis does not cover side effects such as low blood sugar or falls. The authors call for more studies to pin down how much training is needed.
- Type 2 Diabetes: Cardio and Weights Leave Different Marks in BloodModeraten = 2,7412026Diabetes, obesity & metabolismFor people with type 2 diabetes, cardio and strength training seem to shift different blood values. After aerobic exercise, adiponectin, a hormone made by fat tissue, went up. Leptin, another fat tissue hormone, went down. Two inflammation messengers, TNF-alpha and interleukin-6, also fell. Strength training was mainly linked to drops in those same two inflammation markers. The researchers pooled 60 studies in which a random draw decided who exercised and who did not. Together they included 2,741 adults with type 2 diabetes. A special statistical method let them compare training types that were never tested head to head. Interval training with short, hard bursts also lowered TNF-alpha. People who did cardio more often saw a larger drop in interleukin-6. The authors urge caution themselves. For interleukin-6, data from different comparisons did not always agree. Extra analyses by age and body weight offer only early hints. The authors see the results as a source of new questions, not as grounds for ranking training types or making exercise recommendations.
- Vitamin D and Exercise Tied to Fewer Stacked Heart RisksPreliminaryn = 1,6682026International journal of environmental health researchOlder adults in South Korea with more vitamin D in their blood less often had several heart and metabolic risk factors at once. The same was true for those who met the guideline for aerobic activity. People with both were the least likely to have this cluster of risks. The data came from a national health survey in 2023. It covered 1,668 people aged 65 or older who lived at home. Having at least three of five such risk factors counted as a cluster, which applied to just over a third. Compared with people below 20 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood who did not meet the activity guideline, those at 20 or more who did meet it had the cluster less often. The analysis accounted for social background, smoking, alcohol, place of residence and body weight. Vitamin D and activity were each linked to the result on their own. The researchers found no sign that the two boost each other. The key limit: everything was measured at a single point in time. So the study cannot say whether more vitamin D or more activity actually lowers these risks. No vitamin D supplement was tested.
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