Physical activity, glucose tolerance, and diabetes mellitus: the Whitehall Study.

In the Whitehall Study, 6,672 men aged 40-64 years completed a questionnaire concerning leisure time physical activity and had a capillary blood glucose measurement on a sample taken 2 h after a 50 g glucose load. An activity score was calculated by grouping subjects into three broad categories: inactive, moderately active, and active. In both univariate and multiple regression analysis no significant association between blood glucose level and activity score could be found. There were 49 previously diagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetic men and 25 men with 2 h blood glucose levels exceeding 11.1 mmol/l. The proportion of men in each of these groups did not differ significantly between the three activity categories. In a 1:10 sub-sample (n = 1,650) of the whole Study population there was no relationship between glucose tolerance distribution and a measure of energy expenditure (kcal/kg body weight). In this population there is no evidence for relationship between glucose tolerance or non-insulin-dependent diabetes and reported leisure time physical activity, or between glucose tolerance and energy expenditure.