Soccer improves heart
health in diabetic men
A new study has revealed that
soccer training improves heart function, reduces blood
pressure and elevates exercise capacity
in patients with type 2 diabetes.
The study from the Copenhagen Centre for Team Sport and Health at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, demonstrates that soccer training also reduces the need for medication.
The study investigated the effects of soccer training, consisting of small-sided games (5v5), on 21 men with type 2 diabetes, aged 37-60 years.
"We discovered that soccer training significantly improved the flexibility of the heart and furthermore, that the cardiac muscle tissue was able to work 29 per cent faster. This means that after three months of training, the heart had become 10 years 'younger'," Medical Doctor, PhD Student, Jakob Friis Schmidt, who co-authored the study alongside with PhD student, Thomas Rostgaard Andersen, said.
"Many type 2 diabetes patients have less flexible heart muscles which is often one of the first signs of diabetes' effect on cardiac function, increasing the risk of heart failure," he said.
Advanced ultrasound scanning of the heart also demonstrated that the heart's contraction phase was improved and that the capacity of the heart to shorten was improved by 23 per cent - a research result that had not been reported with other types of physical activity.
At the start of the study, 60 per cent of the participants had too high blood pressure and had been prescribed one or more pressure reducing medications. Soccer training reduced the systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 8 mmHg, which is greater than the achievements of prior training studies.
These effects are as pronounced as those achieved by taking high blood pressure pills and the need for medication was significant reduced. The study also showed that the participants' maximal oxygen uptake was increased by 12 per cent and that their intermittent exercise capacity was elevated by 42 per cent.
01.06.2013
People on dialysis
likelier to get heart attack
Why people on dialysis are likelier to have heart attack (Thinkstock
photos/Getty Images)
Scientists in Japan have
discovered why patients, who are suffering from advancedkidney disease, and undergoing
hemodialysis are at high risk to heart attacks and other cardiovascular
complications.
New research findings show that uremic toxins, which are not removed by hemodialysis, increase heart attack risk.
The same scientists also found what reduces this risk: an oral adsorbent called "AST-120."
Masayuki Yoshida, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Life Science and Bioethics Research Center at Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Tokyo, Japan, said "treatment with AST-120, an oral adsorbent, will not only delay the progression of kidney disease, but may also prevent future heart attack.
The first group received AST-120 and the second group did not. When monocytes taken from both sets of mice were subjected to flow cytometry, Mac-1 expression and oxidative stress was reduced in the group with AST-120.
The research findings have been published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
01.06.2013
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