A new study aimed at assessing the benefits of exercise for people with type 1 diabetes is about to start following the recruitment of a group of newly diagnosed patients.

The pilot, which is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research, is being run simultaneously throughout the West Midlands and South West England.

It aims to establish whether at least 150 minutes of exercise a week can help protect a patient’s residual beta cells, which in turn control blood sugar levels, reduce the risk of low sugar (hypoglycaemia) and prevent the development of diabetes complications such as blindness and heart attacks.

The research will be co-ordinated by the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility in Birmingham and involves University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), the University of Birmingham, University of Bristol and University of Bath.

To take part in the study, patients must be over the age of 16 and have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes within the previous three months.

Patients will continue to be recruited over the next two years and remain in the study for between six months and a year.

Five newly diagnosed patients have now been recruited to take part in a focus group where they will be asked about exercise and how it can be promoted.

A separate group of new patients will then go into an exercise study in which they will be encouraged to adhere to a simple and safe exercise programme to increase their activity levels to those recommended by the Department of Health.

Dr Parth Narendran, diabetes consultant at UHB, said: “There is already evidence that intensive exercise in healthy people and patients with other forms of diabetes protects beta cells which make the insulin to control blood sugar.

“The type 1 diabetes patients in the intervention group will get support with their exercise in the form of therapists, monitoring, regular contact and an individualised programme. The exercise can take any form, for example in the gym, for which the patients will get free membership, walking or swimming.

“We will measure the amount of beta cells in each patient through a simple blood test before and after six months of exercise, to see if the activity protects their remaining beta cells.”