Recent study states that combining aerobic and strength training may be the key to win the war against diabetes.

Experts from the University of Vienna studied the effect of aerobic exercise, resistance exercise and a combination of both to a human's blood sugar control, blood pressure and blood fats.

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Aerobic exercise include swimming and jogging while resistance or strength exercises are mainly weight lifting and using other gym weight machines.

Published on July 2 in the journal Diabetologia, the research contains data from 14 studies that include 915 people with type 2 Diabetes and looked into the role of aerobic and strength exercises in enhancing the health of diabetics.

Findings indicate that combining the two types of exercise was more effective in controlling blood sugar, blood fats, blood pressure and weight, and even helped more people attain higher levels of good cholesterol.

The team, spearheaded by Lukas Schwingshackl, concluded that combined aerobic and resistance training can be recommended for patients with type 2 Diabetes whenever possible. However, they also emphasized the need for more research to confirm their findings.

Meanwhile, an American expert supports the team's claim about exercise though he warned that different types of exercises may have different effects.

Explaining his warning, Dr. Gerald Bernstein, director of the Diabetes Management Program at the Friedman Diabetes Institute, states that both resistance and aerobic trainings can reduce blood glucose but the former increases glucose utilization through increasing muscle mass while the latter "burns glucose on the spot."

On the other hand, Schwingshackl still believes that supervised workouts should be prioritized.

TagsDiabetes, aerobics, weights, Type 2 diabetes, cardio, strength, training, exercise