VLCD & adjuvant exercise effect (vascular & metabolic) in overweight
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the immediate and short-term effects of a very low calorie diet (VLCD) with and without adjuvant exercise training on lean body mass (LBM), vascular function, metabolic health and muscle protein synthesis (MPS) in overweight diabetic individuals.
IRAS ID
255016
Contact name
Iskandar Idris
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Sarcopenia is defined as the incremental age-related loss of skeletal muscle in humans which generally begins from forty years old. It is associated with an overall reduction in quality of life and increased morbidity and mortality. Patients with type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are particularly at risk of developing sarcopenia, partly due to the condition and also due to the common incidence after or during middle age.
A promising recently-investigated and effective conservative approach to T2DM is through very low calorie diets (VLCD). Some studies have shown that the diabetic status of some patients can be reversed through VLCD. However, VLCD will theoretically result in an acceleration of sarcopenia. This presents as a limiting factor for the implementation of VLCD in this at-risk patient group.
Skeletal muscle tissue is encouraged to grow in size or be maintained through two means - an increase in circulating protein breakdown products, or through resistance exercise (RE). Additionally, RE has been shown to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin, the main hormone which controls circulating glucose levels and is frequently impaired in T2DM, as well as temporarily decreasing glucose levels. The precise mechanism by which these happen is not fully understood yet.
In this study, the effect of one form of RE (high intensity interval training, HIT) is used, with or without protein supplementation, in a VLCD in overweight, middle-aged male patients with T2DM. We aim to recruit 12 patients into each group (interval training, resistance training, control) at our centre. Patient weight, markers of muscle protein synthesis, glucose levels and changes to blood vessels will be investigated before, during and after across a six week timeframe. Investigations will include muscle and fat biopsies, blood samples, ultrasound scans, strength testing, echocardiogram and deuterium oxide (D2O) isotope ingestion for later non-invasive body fluid sample mass spectrometric analysis.REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0227
Date of REC Opinion
10 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion