Exercise & Metabolism
Exercise Is the Real Polypill
Exercise is the true polypill, improving insulin sensitivity and metabolic health—cost-effective, side-effect-free, and entirely without medication.
Exercise & Metabolism
Exercise is the true polypill, improving insulin sensitivity and metabolic health—cost-effective, side-effect-free, and entirely without medication.
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Imagine if you didn't have to worry about scientific findings or explanations for modern diseases. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Imagine having a polypill—a single medication that addresses many diseases—so they barely affect you. What would you pay for that?
Science is searching desperately for it. Anyone reading prestigious scientific journals knows that countless studies appear daily, tackling the question of why modern people—those living in the Western world—get sick and what we can do about it at the molecular level, ideally with a medication.
Recently, the "weight-loss injection" has been thrust into the spotlight—behind it lies decades of highly complex research, enormous research funding, and tremendous work by male and female scientists. Some newspapers claim it's "a dream come true" for many. Unfortunately, that's not quite right, as we explain in [source no longer available].
Insulin resistance is a classic Western, or modern, metabolic disease. When insulin can no longer function properly, fewer nutrients—especially glucose and amino acids—enter cells. Energy metabolism breaks down. There is chaos in the activation of important signaling pathways. Cells lack their "balm"—they die prematurely.
We notice this because we become more inflamed, have elevated blood sugar levels, burn fat poorly (often leading to excess weight), develop damaged arteries and thus increased risk of cardiovascular disease, our pancreas functions worse and worse (eventually leading to diabetes), or common infections and COVID heal poorly or make us very sick.
This list could go on forever. It should be clear to everyone: insulin resistance is no joke. Its opposite—good insulin action (insulin sensitivity)—is perhaps the most important marker of our metabolic health. And metabolic health eventually becomes the key that determines long-term health or disease in general.
Over the past ten years, the annual number of publications on this topic has roughly tripled. Up to 50% of adults worldwide are affected by insulin resistance. Since insulin resistance is primarily a problem of affluence, the prevalence in some Western countries could be even higher as an unrecognized figure.
The "joke": Completely unnecessary.
A polypill already exists. Back in 2013, an article was published in the prestigious journal Physiology titled: "Exercise is the True Polypill." The author, Carmen Fiuza-Luces (University of Madrid), writes, and this is striking:
"The concept of a ‹polypill› for the prevention of cardiovascular disease is gaining increasing attention. However, comparable or even greater benefits can be achieved with regular physical activity, a medication-free intervention for which our genome was shaped throughout evolution. Compared to medications, exercise is cost-effective and relatively free from side effects."
Aren't those remarkable lines? In this paper, the researcher describes that exercise achieves comparable or even better effects than all medications available for treating or preventing cardiovascular disease. Of course, this applies not only to cardiovascular disease. We are genetically adapted to it—meaning: without exercise, you get sick.
For many years, researchers have been investigating why exercise has such a beneficial effect on energy metabolism and thus on preventing and reversing insulin resistance. Exercise makes muscle insulin-sensitive—so as far as insulin resistance goes, especially when combined with weight loss, the topic is addressed. An entire research field could shut down.
But no, of course not. Scientists don't saw off the branch they're sitting on. That's why there's a whole new field of research: the search for so-called "Exercise Mimetics"—substances that mimic the effects of exercise. The idea: take a pill that makes us fit and healthy. So we can keep sitting on the couch doing nothing. A rather perverse idea!
Because exercise is fun. Especially in a social setting. Progress motivates. The feeling after exertion is priceless. At the same time, it's cost-effective and keeps you healthy. The true polypill—you just need to use it. In our [source no longer available], we describe research findings that provide one explanation for why exercise has such a beneficial effect on insulin action.
Here again, movement works its "magic": A researcher named Agneta Andersson, now a leading researcher in dietetics at Uppsala University (Sweden), has given us unique studies that haven't been replicated in this form since.
She was able to impressively demonstrate that exercise changes the fatty acid composition of our muscle membrane. Remember: all cells, including muscle cells, are wrapped in a membrane consisting primarily of fatty acids that we eat or produce ourselves. What gets built into our membranes largely determines how well the insulin receptor located there binds insulin.
The better the binding, the better the insulin action. Agneta Andersson and her colleagues discovered that exercise, without any qualitative change in dietary composition, affects the muscle membrane's composition in such a way that insulin works better. Among other things, exercise increases the content of omega-3 fatty acids in the membranes.
And that makes you more insulin-sensitive. Isn't that sensational?
Athletes have it good. Much better than the average person who has to deal with all the concerns about blood sugar medications and—later—wound healing disorders from diabetes. The only thing that sets them apart is that they exert themselves physically two, three, or four times a week—okay, and maybe they also pay a little attention to their diet ;-). That's really all it takes.
Every child is an athlete. So if you're not yet an athlete: it's not hard. Just do it.
