ATLANTA, Ga.,
12
August
2019
|
11:22 AM
Europe/Amsterdam

University Diabetes Experts Share Innovative Research into Professional Cycling Team

Phil Southerland, CEO & Co-Founder of Team Novo Nordisk
We are honoured to be a part of such ground-breaking research. The mission behind our team is to inspire, educate and empower everyone affected by diabetes. We are committed to demonstrating how our athletes race at the top level, day after day, with diabetes and are pleased that these techniques can be shared with healthcare professionals from all over the world and help empower and educate people with diabetes on how to approach exercise.
Phil Southerland, CEO & Co-Founder of Team Novo Nordisk

Swansea University researchers shared their world-leading research into how professional cyclists contend with diabetes at international conference

Sport and exercise science experts from Swansea University have shared their world-leading research into how elite cyclists contend with diabetes at an international conference. The researchers presented their findings at the prestigious American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions held in San Francisco and attended by the most eminent academics and health professionals.

The team, led by Associate Professor Richard Bracken, spent 10 days earlier this year studying riders from Team Novo Nordisk during a gruelling Spanish training camp.

The cycling team, the only professional one made up of riders with type 1 diabetes, were carefully monitored to learn more about how their bodies coped with spending up to six hours a day in the saddle.

Dr Bracken, Dr Othmar Moser, Max Eckstein and Olivia McCarthy, from the College of Engineering, were part of a global team made up of experts from UK, US, Canada, Austria, Italy and Switzerland who presented research based on their studies at the American conference.

Their topics were:

  • Sweet Performance: Associations of maximum physiological performance and diabetes in a group of world- class road cyclists with type 1 diabetes, (Max Eckstein)
  • Time spent in glycaemic ranges and carbohydrate intake during cycling in professional cyclists with type 1 diabetes (Olivia McCarthy)
  • Greater time spent in hypoglycemia during nocturnal than daytime period during intensified training in professional cyclists with type 1 diabetes–a prospective observational study (Othmar Moser) 

Dr Bracken said: “Being able to study the cyclists during their training presented us with a great opportunity. 

“We were able to find out more about the bespoke physiology of these elite athletes and better understand their responses to extreme exercise and the strategies they use – factors like food intake, sleep and medication adjustments.

“This provided us with important information that we could share to an international audience at the conference as well as in scientific journals.”

Swansea University is at the forefront investigation into diabetes and is home of the renowned Diabetes Research Unit Cymru. Now the researchers’ ongoing relationship with Team Novo Nordisk looks set to continue to provide greater understanding of the condition.

Team Novo Nordisk CEO and co-founder Phil Southerland said: “We are honoured to be a part of such ground-breaking research. The mission behind our team is to inspire, educate and empower everyone affected by diabetes. “We are committed to demonstrating how our athletes race at the top level, day after day, with diabetes and are pleased that these techniques can be shared with healthcare professionals from all over the world and help empower and educate people with diabetes on how to approach exercise.”

Dr Bracken, his team and research colleagues from Austria have just returned from the Tour of Solvenia where they followed the riders over five days of the gruelling UCI-accredited race.

The researchers were able to measure the cyclists’ glucose levels continuously throughout the race as well as trial a novel device for automatic recording of injected insulins, meals composition and in-ride nutrition. He added: “This research is really helping us to provide the kind of information healthcare professionals need to encourage the wider type 1 diabetes community to do physical activity.”

 

About Team Novo Nordisk – Racing to Change Diabetes

Team Novo Nordisk is a global all-diabetes sports team of cyclists spearheaded by the world’s first all-diabetes UCI Professional Continental cycling team. In 2012, Phil Southerland, co-founder and CEO of the team, and global healthcare company Novo Nordisk, came together to create Team Novo Nordisk, based on a shared vision to inspire, educate and empower people around the world affected by diabetes. 

For more information, go to www.teamnovonordisk.com.

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All images are ©SwanseaUniversity

 

Note to editors: 

When reporting this story, please use Swansea University hyperlinks. Swansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university offering a first class student experience and has one of the best employability rates of graduates in the UK.

Swansea is ranked 30thin the UK in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide. As well as achieving its UK top 30 position, Swansea was named runner-up for the overall University of the Year Title in the Good University Guide, and was also crowned Welsh University of the Year for the second time in three years.

The University has the highest possible rating for teaching – the Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) in 2018 and was commended for its high proportions of students achieving consistently outstanding outcomes.

Swansea climbed 14 places to 31st in the Guardian University Guide 2019, making us Wales’ top ranked university, with one of the best success rates of graduates gaining employment in the UK and the same overall satisfaction level as the Number 1 ranked university.

The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 results saw Swansea make the ‘biggest leap among research-intensive institutions’ in the UK (Times Higher Education, December 2014) and achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK.

The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020 and aims to continue to extend its global reach and realise its domestic and international potential.

Swansea University is a registered charity. No.1138342. Visit www.swansea.ac.uk

For more information, please contact Kathy Thomas, Swansea University Press Office. Tel: 01792 604290, or email:  [email protected]