According to a new study, health scientists found that by changing the timing of when you eat and exercise, people can better regulate their blood sugar levels. The six-week study, which involved thirty men classified as obese or overweight and comparing the results of two intervention groups (who ate before or after exercise) and a control group (who made no lifestyle changes), found that people who exercised before breakfast burned twice the amount of fat than the group who exercised after breakfast.
They found that increased fat utilization is mainly due to lower insulin levels during exercise when people have fasted overnight, meaning they can use more fat from their adipose tissue and the fat in their muscles as fuel. To test this, the initial study involved only men, but future studies will try to translate these findings for different groups, including women.
While this did not lead to differences in weight loss over six weeks, it did have "profound and positive" effects on their health as their bodies were better able to respond to insulin, control blood sugar levels and potentially reduce the risk of diabetes and diabetes. heart disease.
Building on new evidence that the timing of meals in relation to exercise can change how effective exercise is, the team behind this study wanted to focus on the impact on fat stores in muscle for individuals who exercised before or after eating and the effect this influenced insulin response to food.
During the six-week trial, the scientists found that the muscles of the group training before breakfast responded more to insulin than the group training after breakfast, despite identical training sessions and adjusted food intake. The muscles of those who exercised before breakfast also showed greater increases in key proteins, particularly those involved in transporting glucose from the bloodstream to the muscles.
For insulin response to diet after the 6-week study, the group that exercised after breakfast was markedly better than the control group.
