ESPAdvice about staying healthy often centers on regular exercise and limiting fatty foods. Physical activity helps people shed excess weight, build muscle, and strengthen the heart. It also improves the body's ability to absorb and use oxygen to produce energy, which is considered one of the most reliable indicators of long-term health and longevity.
However, people with high blood sugar frequently miss out on some of these benefits from exercise, particularly improvements in how efficiently their bodies use oxygen. Elevated blood sugar raises the risk of heart and kidney disease. It can also interfere with the ability of muscles to increase oxygen uptake during physical activity.
For people facing this challenge, new research suggests an unexpected possibility. Instead of reducing fat intake, increasing it might help.
A study led by exercise medicine researcher Sarah Lessard and published Feb. 25 in Nature Communications examined how diet affects exercise response. The team found that mice fed a high fat ketogenic diet experienced a drop in high blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia. Their bodies also became more responsive to exercise.
"After one week on the ketogenic diet, their blood sugar was completely normal, as though they didn't have diabetes at all," said Lessard, associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Center for Exercise Medicine Research. "Over time, the diet caused remodeling of the mice's muscles, making them more oxidative and making them react better to aerobic exercise."
Know more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260308201620.htm
