Effects of Exercise on Pasma Glucose and Cholesterol Level in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats Fed Buckwheat Diet

The ability of exercise and buckwheat diet to modify plasma glucose and cholesterol levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats has been studied. Diabetic rats were fed corn starch as a control diet or buckwheat as an experimental diet for 4 weeks. One group of rats were exercise-trained to swim for 60 min/day, 6 days a week. Plasma glucose levels of sedentary rats both on the control diet and on the buckwheat diet were significantly increased from 367.0$\pm$33.6 mg/dl to 545.0$\pm$38.7 mg/dl and from 380.3$\pm$18.9 mg/dl to 540.5$\pm$36.6 mg/dl, respectively. However, this large increase of plasma glucose was not seen in exercised rats on the buckwheat diet (from 345.0$\pm$25.6 mg/dl to 391.4$\pm$34.7 mg/dl). The total plasma cholesterol level was not affected by either diet or exercise. The HDL-cholesterol level tends to increase due to the buckwheat diet or an exercise, but not with a significant increase. Our results suggest that the buckwheat diet is beneficial in lowering the plasma glucose level only when diabetic rats ar exercised.