Comparing the Effects of Eight-Week Zinc Supplementation and Yoga Exercise on Serum Apelin Level and Kidney Function Among Women with Type II Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder associated with impaired serum lipid and glucose levels. The present study aimed to compare the effects of zinc supplementation, yoga exercise, and zinc supplementation plus yoga exercise on serum apelin level and kidney function among women with type II diabetes mellitus. This was a four-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study. Thirty two women were selected and randomly allocated to either of the following four groups: control; yoga exercise (thrice weekly for eight weeks); zinc supplementation; and zinc supplementation plus yoga exercise. Body composition, insulin resistance, and serum levels of glucose, insulin, creatinine, urea nitrogen, and apelin were measured before and after the study intervention. Data were analyzed through the one-way analysis of variance and the least significant difference post hoc test at a significance level of less than 0.05. There were significant differences among the study groups concerning the serum levels of glucose (P = 0.001), insulin (P = 0.012), apelin (P = 0.001), and urea nitrogen (P = 0.02) as well as insulin resistance (P = 0.016) after the intervention. However, groups did not significantly differ from each other concerning the serum level of creatinine (P = 0.264). Eight-week yoga exercise and zinc supplementation are useful to women with type II diabetes mellitus.