Effect of exercise on postprandial endothelial function in adolescent boys

Abstract

The ingestion of high-fat meals induces a state of endothelial dysfunction in adults. This dysfunction is attenuated by prior exercise. The response of young people to these nutritional and physiological stressors has not been established. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate if a bout of moderate-intensity exercise influenced endothelial function (as indicated by flow-mediated dilation (FMD)) following the ingestion of a high-fat breakfast and lunch in adolescent boys (aged 12·6-14·3 years). Two, 2 d main trials (control and exercise) were completed by thirteen adolescent boys in a counter-balanced, cross-over design. Participants were inactive on day 1 of the control trial, but completed 60 min of walking at 60 % peak oxygen uptake in the exercise trial. On day 2, endothelial function was assessed via FMD prior to, and following, ingestion of a high-fat breakfast and lunch. There was no difference in fasting FMD between the control and exercise trial (P¼ 0·449). In the control trial, FMD was reduced by 32 % following consumption of the high-fat breakfast and by 24 % following lunch. In the exercise trial, the corresponding reductions were 6 and 10 %, respectively (main effect trial, P¼ 0·002). These results demonstrate that moderate-intensity exercise can attenuate the decline in FMD seen following the consumption of high-fat meals in adolescent boys.

Exercise intensity and postprandial health outcomes in adolescents

“…Importantly, a significant reduction in postprandial SBP was present after HIIE compared to both CON (ES=0.68) and MIE (ES=0.60), highlighting for the first time, the role that HIIE can play in modulating postprandial SBP even in normotensive youth. A protective effect afforded by exercise on endothelial function after a HFM has been demonstrated in adolescents (Sedgwick et al 2012), suggesting that the exercise performed in the current study may have preserved endothelial function. In addition, we observed an increase in resting HR after both exercise trials, suggesting the reduction in SBP may be related to a fall in peripheral vascular resistance via an attenuated sympathetic drive.…”

Acute Exercise and Postprandial Lipemia in Young People

“…A critical feature of the two-day model is that the exercise intervention precedes the first blood sample by 12 to 18 hours (Table 1). This is because lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity appears to peak in this period after exercise (71) , it is likely the energy expenditure was lower than that reported in other studies in young people adopting longer and less intense exercise interventions (3,41,42,70,78,80,81), suggesting that exercise intensity is a key factor influencing postprandial TAG metabolism in young people. Importantly, the exercise protocol was well tolerated by the boys in this study, and recent evidence suggests that pre-pubertal boys prefer moderate intensity exercise interspersed with short bursts of high intensity effort compared with continuous moderate intensity exercise alone (9).…”

“…Nine studies have investigated the effect of acute exercise on postprandial lipemia in young people using the criteria adopted for this summary (3,41,42,69,70,76,78,80,81). A summary of these studies is presented in Thus, an exercise-induced deficit is efficacious, but a closer examination of the exercise characteristics might be more enlightening and will be used to compare and contrast the main outcomes with the adult-based literature appraised above.…”

Effect of repeated sprints on postprandial endothelial function and triacylglycerol concentrations in adolescent boys

“…In addition, endothelial dysfunction appears to be a requirement for the initiation and development of atherosclerosis (Juonala et al, 2004) making it a particularly pertinent risk factor to consider in the young. The ingestion of meals containing substantial quantities of fat is common in young people in western societies (Taveras et al, 2005) and ingesting large amounts of fat results in endothelial dysfunction and elevated postprandial triacylglycerol concentrations in both adults (Gill et al, 2004;Tyldum et al, 2009;Wallace, Johnson, Padilla, & Mather, 2010) and adolescents (Sedgwick et al, 2013). Therefore, interventions that reduce endothelial dysfunction or triacylglycerol concentrations postprandially could have important health benefits.…”

“…A single 30 to 180 min session of moderate-intensity exercise completed 12 to 18 h prior to the ingestion of a high-fat meal has consistently been shown to lower postprandial triacylglycerol concentrations (Barrett, Morris, Stensel, & Nevill, 2006;Barrett, Morris, Stensel, & Nevill, 2007;Gill et al, 2004;Lee, Burns, Kuk, & Arslanian, 2013;MacEneaney et al, 2009;Petitt & Cureton, 2003;Sedgwick et al, 2013;Tolfrey et al, 2008;Tolfrey et al, 2012) and more recently to attenuate postprandial endothelial dysfunction in both adults and adolescents (Gill et al, 2004;Sedgwick et al, 2013;Tyldum et al, 2009). …”