Effect of Eight Weeks of Aerobic Exercise with Ginger Supplementation on FGF21, Irisin and Insulin Resistance in Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Diabetes type 2 is a metabolic disorder that it caused by insulin resistance. The aim of this research was to study the effect of eight weeks of aerobic exercise with ginger supplement on FGF21, Irisin and insulin resistance in women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In a quasi-experimental study with pretest posttest design, 24 women with type 2 diabetes were selected available and purposely as sample. The subjects divided randomly into two groups of control (placebo and exercise) and experimental (supplement and exercise). The experimental group take part in an exercise with moderate intensity 65-70 percent of target heart rate and three session per week. Ginger supplementation was performed at the same time for training with daily consumption of 1 g of ginger extract (250 g capsules) and four servings daily. The control group (placebo) also used similar capsules containing roasted flour. To evaluate serum levels of variables, blood sampling was taken from all subjects 24 hr before and after exercise and supplement intervention at 10hr fasting state. Results: Data were analyzed by using covariance test (p<0.05). The results showed that eight weeks of aerobic training and ginger supplementation lead to increase in Irisin levels (p=0.0001), FGF21 (p=0.0001) and decrease in insulin resistance index (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Results indicated that using aerobic exercise and ginger supplement versus aerobic exercise could have positive effects on regulatory factors of energy in people with type 2 diabetes.