Walking for exercise—does three times per week influence risk factors in type 2 diabetes?

In order to assess the effects of regular walking on metabolic control and cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes 26 patients from one primary care clinic, aged 60.0 ± 7.3 years, participated in a walking program during 4 months. Prescribed exercise was walking for 45–60 min three times weekly. A control group of 26 patients from a neighboring primary care clinic, aged 59.3 ± 6.2 years, received no exercise instructions. Thus, randomization was not performed.There were no improvements of blood pressure, body mass index, physical fitness, glycated hemoglobin A1c, fasting plasma glucose or insulin by intention-to-treat analysis. Seventeen patients in the intervention group increased their physical activity and improved systolic blood pressure; −7.6 mmHg (−15 to −0.2), diastolic blood pressure; −4.3 mmHg (−7.4 to −1.2), body mass index; −0.6 kg/m2 (−1.1 to −0.1) and total plasma cholesterol; −0.6 mmol/l (−0.9 to −0.3), (mean difference, with 95% CI). We could observe no effects on glucose metabolism in either group.Our results suggest that an increase of regular physical activity equivalent to 45 min of walking 3 days/week may suffice to improve systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lipid metabolism and BMI in patients with type 2 diabetes.