INS and type 2 diabetes mellitus: For example, IL-6 levels increase markedly during acute bouts of exercise, enhancing insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and fat oxidation and promoting an antiinflammatory milieu (106, 114, 115); however, elevated basal (or resting) levels of IL-6 have been widely associated with an increased risk of incident CVD and T2D (116–118), and limited human data suggest that basal levels remain largely unchanged after regular exercise (119, 120).