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Exercise helpful to

prevent heart diseases

in diabetics

ISLAMABAD: Elevated levels of insulin appear to make people prone to blood clots and heart ailments and strokes.

About 75 percent of people with the most common type of diabetes die of heart attacks or strokes.

Previous studies have found that high blood pressure and low levels of "good" cholesterol account for about half of the higher-than-normal risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetics.

This new study, published in Journal of the American Medical Association, tried to find out what role elevated insulin levels play.

Based on their findings, the researchers suggest that exercise, which makes the body more receptive to the effects of insulin, might improve a person's ability to dissolve blood clots and possibly lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Exercise ought to be really, really encouraged," said Dr James B Meigs, an internist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The most common form of diabetes patients, type 2, are resistant to insulin, the protein that helps the body use sugar and other energy sources, and as a result they have elevated insulin levels.

From 1991 to 1995, Meigs and his colleagues studied about 3,000 people enrolled in the Framingham Offspring Study, a long-term examination of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Participants included diabetics, people with its precursor condition and non-diabetics.

The researchers found that non-diabetics who had elevated insulin levels also had elevated levels of PAI-1 antigen, a chemical that impairs the blood's ability to dissolve clots. The association was the same in diabetics and people with the precursor condition, though their levels of insulin and the antigen were even higher.

From that, Meigs suggested that "one effect of insulin resistance is to make the blood less able to dissolve clots."

Dr Om Ganda of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston agreed but said the study still has important implications.

"It really adds to a growing body of evidence that says insulin resistance does contribute to increased risk for heart disease," Ganda said.ÑAPP