Regular brief interruptions to sitting after a high-energy evening meal attenuate glycemic excursions in overweight/obese adults

Background and aims: Modern Western lifestyles are characterized by consumption of approximately 45% of total daily energy intake at the evening meal, followed by prolonged sitting while watching television (TV), which may deleteriously impact glycemic control. After a highenergy evening meal (dinner), we examined whether regular, brief activity bouts during TV commercial breaks could acutely lower postprandial glucose and insulin responses in overweight/obese adults, compared to prolonged uninterrupted sitting. Methods and results: Nine overweight/obese adults (29.7 +/- 4.06 kg m(-2); aged 32 +/- 3 years; 5 male) completed two laboratory-based conditions of three and a half hours: prolonged sitting during TV viewing (SIT); and, prolonged sitting interrupted every 20 min with 3 min of lightintensity body-weight resistance activities (active commercial breaks; ACBs). Venous postprandial glucose and insulin responses to dinner were calculated as positive incremental area under the curve (iAUC) from baseline. Interstitial glucose was measured using a continuous glucose monitor and quantified as total AUC (tAUC). Compared to SIT, plasma glucose iAUC was reduced by 33% [3.4 +/- 1.0 vs 5.1 +/- 1.0 (mean +/- SEM) mmol h.L-1, p = 0.019] and plasma insulin iAUC by 41% (813 +/- 224 vs 1373 +/- 224, p = 0.033 pmol h.L-1) for the ACB condition. During the ACB condition there was a significant reduction in interstitial glucose tAUC (24.4 +/- 5.2 vs 26.9 +/- 5.2 mmol h.L-1, p < 0.001), but this did not persist beyond the laboratory observation period. Conclusions: Regular brief light-intensity activity bouts can attenuate glycemic responses during television viewing time following a high-energy evening meal in overweight/obese adults. (C) 2018 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.