Does Regular Exercise without Weight Loss Reduce Insulin Resistance in Children and Adolescents?

Yoonmyung Kim,Hanui Park

doi:10.1155/2013/402592

Abstract

Despite considerable efforts to tackle childhood obesity, it is recognized as one of the biggest health problems globally. Childhood obesity is a leading cause of many comorbid conditions such as metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance as well as type 2 diabetes. A strong body of evidence suggests that regular exercise without calorie restriction or weight loss is associated with reduced insulin resistance as well as improved insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese adults. However, despite the well-known benefits associated with regular exercise alone, the independent role of exercise training without calorie restriction on insulin resistance is still uncertain in youth. Some studies observed that both the aerobic and resistance type of exercise training without calorie restriction resulted in meaningful changes in insulin sensitivity, suggesting that exercise alone is an effective therapeutic strategy for reducing insulin resistance in overweight and obese youth. However, only few studies are available on the optimal dose of exercise training without calorie restriction or preferred exercise modality for reducing insulin resistance, which warrants further investigations in the pediatric population.

Highlights

The prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing throughout the world during the past few decades [1]
Childhood obesity is recognized as a major public health concern since the simultaneous increase in obesity is paralleled by an increased prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance [3], metabolic syndrome (MetS) [4], and type 2 diabetes [5, 6] in youth
Duncan et al [16] previously showed that a 6-month period of aerobic exercise training (3–7 days/week, 30 min/session, ∼75% of heart rate reserve) without weight loss significantly increased insulin sensitivity, accessed by the frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test (FSIVGTT) in sedentary adults

Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of childhood obesity has been increasing throughout the world during the past few decades [1]. Other studies [29, 33,34,35,36] have demonstrated that cardiorespiratory fitness is inversely associated with insulin sensitivity even after accounting for body adiposity, suggesting that the negative effects of body fatness on insulin sensitivity may be mediated by the degree of cardiorespiratory fitness in youth These conflicting results may be partially explained by the different subject characteristics or assessment techniques for insulin sensitivity and cardiorespiratory fitness, it is still inconclusive which component is a better contributor to insulin sensitivity in children and adolescents, which warrants further investigations. The above observations clearly suggest that people should add regular exercise in their daily routine to increase or at least to maintain insulin sensitivity, which may further reduce the increased incidence of insulin resistance or associated risk factors in children and adolescents

Aerobic Exercise and Insulin Resistance

15.5 Exercise

Summary

Findings

Conflict of Interests