(This story appeared in MIZZOU magazine, Vol. 91, No. 2, Winter, 2002, published by the University of Missouri. Reprinted with permission.)
Along with a sensible diet, regular exercise has long been touted as the only surefire way to shed extra pounds. Now, Michael Sturek, professor of physiology, is finding that, for people with diabetes, the benefits of exercise extend beyond weight loss.
"People with diabetes are four times as likely to develop heart disease as are people who aren't diabetic," Sturek says. "We have found that exercise may play a role in preventing this."
In his research, Sturek uses specially-bred diabetic Yucatan pigs. Sturek divides the pigs into a control group, which leads a sedentary lifestyle, and an experimental group, which runs on treadmills for 30 to 40 minutes, four days a week.
"Pigs are a lot like us," Sturek says. "Their hearts are similar in size, anatomy, and function, and they are omnivorous, like we are. When we put them on a treadmill, they run like us, too."
Sturek has found that exercise alters some of the cellular properties of the pigs' arteries, causing them to open and increase the flow of blood. He's also found that exercise decreases intracellular calcium, which he says causes muscles around blood vessels to grow and, in turn, impede blood flow.
"Eventually, we'd like to be able to develop a drug that can mimic these effects, so diabetics who are morbidly obese or unable to exercise can still protect themselves from heart disease," Sturek says.