Did you know that diabetes is one of the main causes of chronic kidney disease and that represents between 30% and 50% of all these cases?
Moreover, diabetes together with chronic kidney disease is associated with an increase of 10 times or more of the risk of death for any cause compared to diabetes alone.
That is why it is key to look for solutions to reduce this risk.Now, a study published in British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that exercising moderate or vigorous intensity decreases the risk of chronic renal disease in people with overweight or obesity with type 2 diabetes.
As the authors report, “in the short term, the evidence shows that the exercise improves renal function in people with type 2 diabetes, but it is not clear what the long -term benefits could be, or if they are cumulative and/or depend on thesession duration ”.
To answer this question, the researchers did a secondary analysis of the American essay data Look Aheas.This was a multicenter random controlled essay that compared the cardiovascular results of intensive lifestyle intervention with standard support and education for diabetes in more than 5,000 adults overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity were measured at the beginning of the study, after a year, after 4 years and after 8 years for which they used an activity tracker aimed at evaluating the potential impact on the progression to chronic renal disease orin the terminal stage.
During the 12 years of follow -up, the authors saw that around 1 in 3 participants had a chronic kidney disease.
However, they saw that those who performed the most moderate to vigorous physical activity every week, from 329 to 469 minutes, were less likely to progress to a chronic kidney disease than those who made the least less than 220 minutes a week.
In general, according to the authors, "a higher accumulated weekly average is associated with a 9 % lower risk for every 100 minutes of physical activity."
And increasing the weekly count in at least an hour (more than 63 minutes) over the first 4 years of the study was associated with a 33% lower risk compared to the greater registered decrease of 198 minutes per week.
And among the weekly "improvers", there was a lower risk of progression in episodes of physical activity that lasted as much more than 10 minutes, they showed the findings.
It is important to note that this is an observational study and, as such, it cannot establish the cause.The researchers recognize that study participants were very motivated, so they may not be widely representative of people with diabetes and overweight.
But they emphasize: “These findings are consistent with the evidence that regular physical activity has direct anti -inflammatory effects and can promote glycemic control, improve insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, lipid profiles and other metabolic risk factors andcardiovascular, all of which are associated with renal function. ”
“In addition, the association between moderate to vigorous physical activity and the progression to chronic kidney disease was almost linear, without an observable plateau or a clear threshold, which suggests that people with diabetes should be encouraged to perform as much as possibleof physical activity with the high intensity that they can tolerate, to maximize the benefits ”.
Ideally, adults with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes perform just over an hour (67 minutes) of moderate intensity activity every day, such as a quick walk, riding a bike, jogging or swimming, to reach 469minutesper week, all this in order to stop its risk of progression to chronic kidney disease.