A low calorie diet and high intensity exercise can reduce nerve damage in prediabetic mice, according to a Michigan Medicine study. Researchers say findings reinforce the potential of lifestyle factors to treat peripheral neuropathy , a prevalent and painful complication of obesity, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. The condition lacks effective medical therapies and affects over 20 million people in the United States.
"While diet and exercise are recommended for improving peripheral neuropathy in prediabetes, obesity and type 2 diabetes, and patients know they are important, there are no detailed guidelines for treatment," said first author Stéphanie Eid, Ph.D., a research assistant professor of neurology at University of Michigan Medical School.
"Our findings reveal that specific diet and exercise interventions could be key to reducing nerve damage in obesity and diabetes." For the study, investigators in the Michigan Medicine NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies assessed the effect of diet and exercise on mice who were fed a high fat diet. Those mice not only developed obesity and neuropathy, but their peripheral nerves also became resistant to insulin.
Essentially, the mice had diabetes in their nerves. The team subjected the mice to a 40% caloric restriction , high intensity interval training or both interventions. The interval training, also called HIIT, is a form of exercise that alternates between short bursts of intense activity and periods of lower intensity.
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