The Effect of Eight Weeks of Interval Training and Caffeine Supplementation on Glycemic Indices of Type 2 Diabetic Men

Type 2 diabetes, as the most common metabolic disease, is a chronic and progressive disorder that causes permanent complications and increases cardiovascular diseases, brain vessels, peripheral vessels, and mortality in affected people. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the effect of eight weeks of interval training and caffeine supplementation on glycemic indices in men with type 2 diabetes.

The current research was a semi-experimental study. As a pilot research, 50 people were selected trough an available and targeted manner, among men with type 2 diabetes (with a history of more than one year) referring to Salamat and Sheikh Al-Rais Specialist clinics, Tabriz, Iran In the period of 2020-2021. 32 people met the inclusion criteria and entered into the study. Participants in the study were simple randomly divided into four homogenous groups of 8 including; Placebo, caffeine, exercise and exercise + caffeine were divided. Drug interventions and intermittent exercises were performed for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected during two stages (pre-test and post-test) to measure serum levels of glucose, insulin, HbA1c and HOMA-IR index. The data were analyzed using repeated analysis of variance, Bonferroni post hoc and independent t tests at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that the levels of the glucose, insulin, HbA1c, and HOMA-IR in the three intervention groups significantly decreased compared to those in the placebo group (P=0.001). Furthermore, the results of post hoc test showed that the combined group of interval training + caffeine, compared to the caffeine group, had double effects on the changes in studied indices (P=0.001).

A combination of interval training and caffeine supplementation may have been adopted as an effective method to improve and treat symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes.