Nerve Regeneration Possible for PreDiabetics
This entry was posted on 5/16/2006 8:37 PM and is filed under Exercise and Health.
Weight loss and exercise can help reduce pain in those with "impaired glucose tolerance neuropathy", which is called prediabetes. While aggressive control of blood glucose levels are known to slow the risk of neuropathy, researchers never thought it possible for reinervation to occur in the prediabetic state. In a study at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Dr. A. Gordon Smith and associates measured intraepiddermal nerve fiber density in the legs and thighs of 32 prediabetic subjects. These patients were given a weight loss goal of 7%, along with 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week and individual nutritional counseling once every 3 months. After 1 year of regular dieting and exercise, improvement was found in nerve fiber density, which correlated with decrease in neuropathic pain.
Dr. Smith recommends that doctors treating patients who are glucose intolerant with peripheral neuropathy, "should treat them as aggressively as possible with diet and exercise... Simply treating them with antihyperglycemic drugs appears to not allow damaged nerve fibers to recover."
As reported in Medscpae; Reuters Health Information 2006
