Exercise EnIgma Diabetics in study burned fat faster By Chad Dundas
but others are still struggling with it, some too fearful to even try. Very real concerns about hypoglycemic lows and diabetic comas make it even more important that Type 1s get the proper education and instruction on how to exercise the right way, Dumke says. “When I showed up at these camps, I was all excited about getting them (Type 1 diabetics) some exercise, and here they are, afraid to do any exercise,” he says. “By giving them more of a well-rounded background in exercise physiology, they felt much more comfortable in being able to understand this [insulin-glucose] interaction. That was a really profound realization for me because I’m usually in the lab doing research and don’t always have that one-on-one consulting experience.” In other words, it was a matter of selling the diabetics on the idea that exercise is medicine. No worries for Dumke though, who at 45 years old himself looks fit as a fiddle from a regular regimen of biking, running, swimming and triathlons. That, coupled with his knowledge, makes him a pretty good salesman. V For more information email charles.dumke@mso.umt.edu.
their insulin levels. “I don’t want that to happen,” Dumke says. “I have to be very cautious because there’s a huge individual variability between Type 1 diabetics, and I don’t want generalized statements from a research study to become individual consulting. That’s a danger, and I don’t want that message to go out there.” What’s important, Dumke says, is to make sure that Type 1 diabetics and their health care providers — whether it be nutritionists or endocrinologists — use the information to increase their overall understanding of how diabetics can and should safely exercise. Many Type 1s who exercise regularly are probably already lowering their insulin intake beforehand, and Dumke’s study just provides them
with a more complete picture of what’s happening inside their bodies when that happens. “That is a very common thing,” he says. “A lot of Type 1 people, when they exercise, typically have instructions from their endocrinologist to lower their insulin administration because insulin and exercise can be similar in their ability to take up glucose into tissue. So when they exercise with insulin, a Type 1 diabetic is already in jeopardy of causing a hypoglycemic low. Their instructions then are to lower insulin when they exercise in order to lower that risk. That then, we found, predisposes them to using more fat.” Some Type 1 diabetics have come to terms with how to properly exercise, Vision 2011 29
Dumke works to sell the idea that “exercise is medicine.”