Interval Exercise and Flow-mediated Dilation

Does high-intensity interval training (HIIT) have any effects on blood vessel function in type 2 diabetes patients? In this engaging podcast, Consulting Editor Nisha Charkoudian (U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine) interviews lead author Jonathan Little (University of British Columbia Okanagan) and content expert Ellen Dawson (Liverpool John Moores University) about the exciting new exercise training study by Francois et al. Little and co-authors compared a cardio-type HIIT workout of cycling to a resistance exercise HIIT workout, in both type 2 diabetes patients and healthy age-matched master athletes. Did the authors find the resistance HIIT was more effective at improving flow mediated dilation and endothelial function in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients? The results of this study are consistent with a shift to considering T2D a vascular disease, and suggest that HIIT may be a practical exercise strategy for improving vascular function in T2D patients. Furthermore, could resistance-based HIIT solve the very real issue of patient compliance? After all, says Dawson, "We need people to be exercising, and the best kind of exercise is the one that they're going to continue to do."

 

Monique E. Francois, Cody Durrer, Kevin J. Pistawka, Frank A. Halperin, Jonathan P. Little Resistance-based interval exercise acutely improves endothelial function in type 2 diabetes Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published November 1, 2016. DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00398.2016