Children who were born with a low birth weight are at a higher risk of insulin resistance, but physical activity might be able to mitigate the risk, according to a study published in the journal Diabetes.
Insulin resistance, also known as metabolic syndrome, is a name for a group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Researchers looked at two existing studies: the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence survey and the European Youth Heart study, involving 789 adolescents between them.
After adjusting for sex, age, sexual maturation, body-mass index, maternal education level, and breastfeeding duration, the researchers found that those teenagers who had been born undersized were at a higher risk of insulin resistance, but this was lessened in those children who were physically active.
"In conclusion, the present results suggest that being more active might [lessen] the adverse effects of low birth weight on insulin resistance in adolescents," wrote the study authors. "This finding has important social and clinical implications and supports that promotion of physical activity is beneficial also in young people at higher risk because of their low birth weight."
The researchers do caution, however, that they will need to look at data from larger and more comprehensive studies in order to confirm these results.
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