Is a Lifestyle High in Sugar and Low in Exercise Good for Men

Are sedentary lifestyles and sugary foods bad for men? Increased blood sugar levels damage the blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart disease.

Highlights:

Diabetes and heart disease risk is lower in women compared to men is a known fact
Now, how men and women react to a sedentary lifestyle and sugary diet over some time is looked at
A sedentary lifestyle and increased sugary intake increase diabetes and heart disease risk, mainly in men

The short-term lifestyle changes that can disrupt the response to insulin in blood vessels in humans are shown in a new study from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, US. It is also the first study to show how men and women react differently to these changes. The study is published in the journal Endocrinology.

Vascular insulin resistance is a feature of obesity and type 2 diabetes that contributes to vascular disease (). Researchers examined vascular insulin resistance in 36 young and healthy men and women by exposing them to 10 days of reduced physical activity, cutting their step count from 10,000 to 5,000 steps per day. The participants also increased their sugary beverage intake to six cans of soda per day.

Sedentary Lifestyle and Sugary Diet is More Harmful Than you Think

The incidence of insulin resistance and heart disease is lower in premenopausal women compared to men, but researchers wanted to see how men and women reacted to reduced physical activity and increased sugar in their diet over a short period.

Diet, Lifestyle and Heart Disease
The correlation between diet, lifestyle and heart disease. The importance of balanced diet life style and exercise for controlling heart disease.

TOP INSIGHT

Sedentary lifestyle and high sugar intake in men cause decreased insulin sensitivity and increased risk for heart disease.

The results showed that only in men did the sedentary lifestyle and high sugar intake causes decreased insulin-stimulated leg blood flow and a drop in a protein called adropin, which regulates insulin sensitivity and is an important biomarker for cardiovascular disease.

These findings underscore a sex-related difference in the development of vascular insulin resistance induced by adopting a lifestyle high in sugar and low in exercise.

This is the first evidence in humans that vascular insulin resistance can be provoked by short-term adverse lifestyle changes, and it’s the first documentation of sex-related differences in the development of vascular insulin resistance in association with changes in adropin levels ().

Sedentary Lifestyle Could Harm Your Health
Sedentary lifestyle is one that has very little or no physical activity at all, whether at work or at home.

Researchers would next like to examine how long it takes to reverse these vascular and metabolic changes and more fully assess the impact of the role of sex in the development of vascular insulin resistance.

These kinds of research work in recent times highlight the promise of personalized health care and the impact of large-scale interdisciplinary collaboration.

Move More, Sit Less: Standing Desks can Reduce Sitting Time in Sedentary Office Workers
Are you glued to your office chair? Standing desks can reduce sitting time and improve overall health in sedentary office workers. So, stand up, sit less and move more.

References:

Sedentary behavior as a mediator of type 2 diabetes (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4364419/)
Young Women Are Protected Against Vascular Insulin Resistance Induced by Adoption of an Obesogenic Lifestyle(https://academic.oup.com/endo/article-abstract/163/11/bqac137/6668857?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false)

Source-Medindia

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