Comment on: van Dijk et al. Exercise Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes: Is Daily Exercise Required to Optimize Glycemic Control? Diabetes Care 2012;35:948–954

Response to Comment on: van Dijk et al. Exercise Therapy in Type 2 Diabetes: Is Daily Exercise Required to Optimize Glycemic Control? Diabetes Care 2012;35:948–954

“…Nonetheless, it is possible that the glucoregulatory effects of more frequent short bouts of exercise as opposed to less frequent longer bouts of exercise may accumulate in a different manner over time. Therefore, we agree with Thosar and Wallace (1) that future studies should investigate the impact of the frequency of exercise on glycemic control over a long-term period.…”

“…The second point raised by Thosar and Wallace (1) concerns the importance of the postbreakfast plasma glucose and insulin concentrations presented in Fig. 2.…”

“…We thank Thosar and Wallace (1) for their interest and constructive comment related to our recent work published in Diabetes Care (2). As this was the first study that investigated the impact of the frequency of exercise (within a fixed volume) on glycemic control, we specifically designed a short-term intervention study during which glycemic control was assessed over 48 h with exercise and dietary conditions being strictly standardized.…”

“…The short-term nature of our study allowed for the assessment of the effects of exercise per se, without changes in dietary intake and habitual physical activity, or changes in body weight and/or composition. As discussed by Thosar and Wallace (1), such a strictly controlled study is difficult to perform and requires a high level of commitment from the subjects participating in the study. Inherent in the short-term nature of the study, we cannot exclude the possibility that the beneficial effects of daily (two 30-min exercise bouts per 48 h) or nondaily (one 60-min exercise bout per 48 h) exercise were present beyond the 48-h assessment period.…”