Effect of Exercise on the Peripheral Utilization of Glucose in Man

Abstract

THE occasional hypoglycemia in marathon runners and the enhanced glucose tolerance and amelioration of diabetes mellitus that may occur during physical effort have long afforded evidence that exercise can alter glucose homeostasis in man.^{1 2 3 4 5 6} Indeed, vigorous exercise constituted one of the main forms of therapy in the preinsulin era.^{1 , 2} Conceivably, the blood-sugar-lowering actions of exercise could be ascribed to suppression of hepatic glucose output or enhanced peripheral glucose utilization or both. As yet, experimental data to differentiate these possibilities have not been forthcoming in man. In contrast, information obtained in laboratory animals^{7 8 9 10 11 12 13} has shown augmented production of C¹⁴-labeled carbon . . .