Get Moving After Meals, Short Walks Decrease Glucose Levels Following Food Consumption

Taking a short walk following meals may be all you needed to help fight the battle against diabetes.

According to a study funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging, three 15-minute walks after each meal helped to control blood sugar levels much better than one 45-minute walk in the morning or afternoon, according to HealthDay.

"More importantly, the post-meal walking was significantly better than the other two exercise prescriptions at lowering the post-dinner glucose level," Loretta DiPietro, chairwoman of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington D.C. and lead author of the study, via HealthDay.

Researchers tested 10 older adults with an average age of 70. All participants were overweight and pre-diabetic, with fasting blood glucose levels between 105 and 125 milligrams per deciliter. The normal fasting glucose levels tend to be between 70 and 100, and can be measured the last time a person ate over an eight hour period, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Participants were expected to stay in metabolic chambers that measured their energy spent using air samples for a two to three day period. Participants were not allowed to do any physical activity the first day and the second day, they either walked at a moderate pace for 15 minutes or 30 minutes following a meal. For the others, they walked for a 45-minute period at 10:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m.

Blood sugar levels were also monitored throughout the day.

The authors found that the those who walked for a short period following meals had the lowered blood glucose levels the most compared with the other groups.

"These findings are good news for people in their 70s and 80s who may feel more capable of engaging in intermittent physical activity on a daily basis, especially if the short walks can be combined with running errands or walking the dog," DiPietro said in a press release. "The muscle contractions connected with short walks were immediately effective in blunting the potentially damaging elevations in post-meal blood sugar commonly observed in older people."

Yet, walks following meals shouldn't be used as a weight-loss substitute. 

"You eat a meal. You wait a half-hour and then you go for a 15-minute walk, and it has proven effective in controlling blood sugar levels, but you have to do it every day after every meal. This amount of walking is not a prescription for weight loss or cardiovascular fitness - it's a prescription for controlling blood sugar," DiPierto said, via USA Today.