Letters To The Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jun 10, 2016; 7(11): 239-242
Published online Jun 10, 2016. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v7.i11.239
Blunting post-meal glucose surges in people with diabetes
Elsamma Chacko
Elsamma Chacko, Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown, CT 06457, United States
Author contributions: The author is the sole contributor to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Elsamma Chacko, Principal Physician, Connecticut Valley Hospital, 1000 Silver Street, Middletown, CT 06457, United States. elsammac@msn.com
Telephone: +1-860-2625000 Fax: +1-860-2625307
Received: January 31, 2016
Peer-review started: February 1, 2016
First decision: March 1, 2016
Revised: March 6, 2016
Accepted: March 24, 2016
Article in press: March 25, 2016
Published online: June 10, 2016
Processing time: 123 Days and 12.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: A critical part of diabetes self-management is the systematic blunting of the post-meal glucose surge. The reason for this is that the glucose surge is closely linked to the vascular complications of diabetes and eventual organ damage. Decades of studies have shown that a moderate intensity exercise - aerobic, resistance or combined - starting 30-40 min after the start of the meal can efficiently blunt the glucose peak. Post-meal studies starting at other times have also shown improvements in other metabolic markers including high density lipoprotein, triglycerides and markers of oxidative stress. Promoting post-meal exercise can make a big difference in the daily lives of diabetes patients worldwide.