Does Exercise Without Weight Loss Improve Insulin Sensitivity?
Open accessAbstract
It has long been established that a single exercise session can increase insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in previously sedentary adults (1). A single bout of moderate intensity exercise can increase glucose uptake by at least 40% (2). The benefits of exercise diminish rather quickly, however, as the effects generally dissipate within 48 to 72 h of the last exercise session (3). This observation is reinforced by investigations demonstrating that cessation of exercise in trained persons is associated with a marked and rapid decrease in insulin sensitivity (4). A detailed review of the putative mechanisms by which exercise enhances insulin action is the subject of several excellent reviews (5,6). Although a single bout of exercise improves glucose metabolism acutely, the impact of exercise training (e.g., the summation of acute bouts of exercise) on glucose metabolism is unclear. The issue is not whether exercise training is associated with improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin action. Recognition that exercise training enhances the ability of skeletal muscle to glucose uptake was reported over 30 years ago when Bjorntorp et al. (7) observed that insulin action is greater in physically active than sedentary individuals. Rather, the issue is whether the impact of exercise training on glucose metabolism is a direct effect or an indirect effect that depends on concomitant reduction in body fat …
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Skeletal muscle responds to contraction or exercise with a rapid insulin-independent increase in glucose uptake during exercise and a transient insulin-stimulated pathway following exercise.
“Skeletal muscle responds to contraction or exercise with a rapid insulin-independent increase in glucose uptake during exercise and a transient insulin-stimulated pathway following exercise 7-11.”
From Effect of exercise training on insulin-stimulated glucose disposal: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (2023) · cites this paper as [8]
Section I reports that a single exercise session increases insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and that its benefits generally dissipate within 48–72 hours. It does not describe a rapid, insulin-independent increase in skeletal-muscle glucose uptake during exercise or establish the specific pathways claimed. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Ross, R.
- Affiliations
- Queen's University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Ross, Robert
- ORCID
- Ross, Robert
- Venue
- Diabetes Care
- Publisher
- American Diabetes Association
- Published
- 2003-03-01
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 944-945
- ISSN
- 0149-5992 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-5548
- OpenAlex
- W1995961901
- Semantic Scholar
- f1b14f18f45414cd99b49b175629b2ad2a87784e
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Diabetes Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Queen's University
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- exercise training, insulin sensitivity, insulin resistance, glucose uptake, skeletal muscle, fat mass, weight loss, acute exercise effects, glucose tolerance, sedentary adults
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Insulin Resistance, Weight Loss, Exercise, Glucose Intolerance
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