Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Aug 31;56(4):193-8.
doi: 10.4077/CJP.2013.BAB130.

Altitude training improves glycemic control

Shu-Man Chen  1 , Hsueh-Yi Lin  2 , Chia-Hua Kuo  3
Affiliations
Review

Altitude training improves glycemic control

Shu-Man Chen et al. Chin J Physiol. .

Abstract

Under altitude hypoxia condition, energy reliance on anaerobic glycolysis increases to compensate the shortfall caused by reduced fatty acid oxidation. Short-term moderate altitude exposure plus endurance physical activity has been found to improve glucose tolerance (not fasting glucose) in humans, which is associated with the improvement in the whole-body insulin sensitivity. However, most of people cannot accommodate high altitude exposure above 4500 M due to acute mountain sickness and insulin resistance. There is a wide variation among individuals in response to the altitude challenge. In particular, the improvement in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity by prolonged altitude hiking activity was not apparent in those individuals with low baseline dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) concentration. In rats, exercise training recovery under prolonged hypoxia exposure (14-15% oxygen, 8 h per day for 6 weeks) can also improve insulin sensitivity, secondary to an effective suppression of adiposity. After prolonged hypoxia training, obese abnormality in upregulated baseline levels of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and AS160 phosphorylation in skeletal muscle can be reversed. In humans, moderate hypoxia increases postprandial blood distribution towards skeletal muscle during a training recovery. This physiological response plays a role in the redistribution of fuel storage among important energy storage sites and may explain its potent effect on the favorable change in body composition.

Conclusion: Altitude training can exert strong impact on our metabolic system, and has the potential to be designed as a non-pharmacological or recreational intervention regimen for correcting metabolic syndromes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Substances

LinkOut - more resources