TARGETING HUMAN INSULIN SENSITIVITY: a cool, an active, and a compound-based approach

Overweight is an important risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by a reduced sensitivity to the hormone insulin. Eating less and doing more sports are effective in improving the insulin sensitivity, but turn out to be difficult to maintain on the longer term for people who are overweight and have type 2 diabetes. This dissertation describes three alternative strategies to improve insulin sensitivity. The use of the nutritional supplement nicotinamide riboside appears to be ineffective in improving the insulin sensitivity. Ten days of cold acclimatization without shivering also appears to have no effect on insulin sensitivity. Some shivering seems to be necessary to induce effects. Replacing sitting behaviour by 7 hours of standing and walking a day appears to improve the insulin sensitivity by 22% compared to sitting as much as possible.