Efficacy of a Nutritional Education Strategy and Physical Exercise on the Gut Microbiota in Type 2 Diabetics

We hypothesize that the combination of a nutritional education intervention with a HIIT-based physical exercise program improve muscle metabolism through positive modifications of gut microbiota in people with T2DM, leading to better glycaemia/insulinaemia levels, reduction of body fat mass and improving quality of life. The project is a randomized controlled clinical trial in 120 participants with T2DM and obesity, which aims to determine the efficacy of a nutritional education program and the role of physical exercise type on health related variables. The participants will be of both sexes with age between 40 and 55 years, belonging to the Province of Cádiz. The design has two 12-week interventions; the main factor has 2 levels: participants who receive the nutritional education (EDU) and controls (CG); the second factor has 3 levels: high-intensity interval training (HIIT), moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), and controls (INACT). Therefore, participants will be randomized into 6 groups (n=20), adjusted by gender (≈50% in each group): EDU+HIIT, EDU+MICT, EDU+INACT, CG+HIIT, CG+MICT, CG+INACT. The outcome variables, which will be measured before and after the intervention, will include: dietary intake assessment, physical activity assessment, quality of life, faecal samples, blood samples, blood pressure, appetite assessment, muscle biopsy samples, body composition and fluids, basal metabolism, maximal fat oxidation test and cardiorespiratory fitness.