BYU professor William Winder, 65, runs 3 miles a day and bikes to and from work. He said he works out an hour a day because he knows how good physical exercise is for him and he likes the view.

"It's just fun to get out and feel the cool air going past you and look at the beautiful mountains," Winder said.

Winder has been studying the effects of exercise on muscle cells since at least 1971. In a recent project, Winder helped uncover one more step on the path that cells take to gain endurance, which could eventually lead to a new treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

Winder knew that the more a person exercised, the more endurance they had because exercise leads to an increase in cellular powerplants called mitochondria. Now he may know one reason why, though it could be many years before researchers fully understand the process.

In research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Winder, along with postdoctoral researcher David Thomson, shows that one reason may be the way the enzyme AMPK affects another protein called CREB.

Thomson said the research shows that AMPK can activate CREB, a protein in cells that acts as a switch, turning genes on and triggering the creation of mitochondria, which increases endurance.

Thomson said an increase in mitochondria means cells can burn more glucose or take up insulin more efficiently.

"That's ... at least a partial explanation," Thomson said.

Winder said the process is more complicated than it sounds and that more research is needed.

"I think we'll be going on many, many more years before we fully understand what's going on here," Winder said.

Scientists have long known that exercise is an effective tool for fighting diabetes, and Thomson said the finding could eventually lead to a drug that mimics some of the effects of exercise for diabetes patients. Though he said nothing could replicate the effects of real exercise.

"The major message we'd like to convey is that inactivity is really a disease. If you exercise regularly you can avoid or reduce the chance of developing ... diabetes," Winder said.

Patty Cross, a health educator at the Utah County Health Department said that she encourages people with Type 2 diabetes to work out because exercise can help cells better absorb insulin.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at blusk@heraldextra.com.