Muscular Exercise and Metabolism in Male Juvenile Diabetics II. Glucose Tolerance after Exercise

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Abstract
The effect of graded physical exercise on glucose tolerance has been investigated in eight, young, male, insulin-treated diabetics. The subjects were exercised, for three hours or to exhaustion, whichever came first, on a bicycle ergometer at four different work loads. 15 min after the exercise 0.5 g glucose per kg body weight was infused i.v. Glucose disappearance rates (GDR) were followed, and the results compared with that of a resting experiment. GDR was found to be dependent upon the relative work load expressed as per cent of max. V˙O2 Exercise at 20% of max. V˙O2 did not affect GDR. GDR was significantly increased after exercise at 50%, 70%, and 90% of max V˙O2 in both diabetics and non-diabetics The glucose tolerance curves of the diabetic subjects resembled more and more those of the non-diabetic subjects as the severity of the preceding exercise increased. It was concluded that moderate to severe exercise affects glucose metabolism by increasing GDR in young, male, insulin-treated diabetics.