Gentle yoga classes would help people with type 2 diabetes to lose weight and stabilize blood sugar control.
A study of 123 elderly and middle- aged adults showed that those who added yoga classes to the usual treatment lost a few kilos in three months and maintained average blood sugar levels, unlike a control group that did not perform yoga.
The results, published in the journal Diabetes Care, do not suggest that yoga should replace another type of exercise in these patients. When it comes to losing many kilos and controlling blood sugar, the most intense exercise gives better results, as Shreelaxmi V. Hegde, of the Srinivas Institute for Research in Medical Science, in Bangalore, India indicated.
In the 60 participants who did yoga classes several times a week, the average body mass index or BMI dropped from 25.9 to 25.4 (a value between 25 and 30 indicates overweight).
“The effect of yoga on BMI and blood sugar control was moderate. But yoga kept blood sugar stable, which increased in the control group, ” said Hegde, lead author of the study.
The team also observed signs of a reduction in oxidative stress in the group treated with yoga.
Oxidative stress causes increased levels of free radicals, which are derived from the energy used by cells, without the body can neutralize them. In the long term, it favors the appearance of chronic diseases.
The team determined the blood levels of oxidative stress chemicals in the participants. Those levels decreased by 20 percent in those who had done yoga.
Hegde said that if this reduction in oxidative stress was maintained over time, it would reduce the risk of patients having diabetic complications, such as kidney and heart disease or nerve damage to the eye vessels, but studies are needed to confirm it.
The author explained that yoga would reduce oxidative stress because it stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which acts as a brake on the sympathetic nervous system .
The limitations of the study are, for example, that the type of yoga used was gentle, adapted for people with health problems. In the real world, classes vary greatly.
Diabetic older adults can take classes specially designed for them, just like people with other chronic diseases. In the United States, more and more hospitals and community centers are offering them.