Effect of moderate exercise on serum lipids in young men with low high density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Abstract

Fifty-five healthy, sedentary, nonsmoking, and nonobese 24-to 26-year-old men who had low plasma concentrations of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were selected for a study of the effect of short-term exercise on plasma llpld and lipoprotein concentrations. The participants were randomized Into two groups. Of these, 28 were assigned to a 9-week program of submaxlmal aerobic exercise three times weekly, and 27 were assigned to a nonexerclslng control group. Changes In physical fitness were assessed by Increments In estimated maximal oxygen consumption; this Increased by 15% In the exercise group (p<0.001) but remained unchanged In the control group. During the study, body weights and skinfold thicknesses of both groups remained essentially unchanged after 9 weeks. There was no significant difference between the trial groups In total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, calculated low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or in the HDL 2 and HDL 3 subtractions. T he association between plasma concentration of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and the incidence and severity of coronary heart disease has become well recognized in recent years.1 " 5 Programs of increased physical activity, particularly those based upon running or jogging, have attracted attention as being among the few potentially effective and physiologically desirable means of increasing plasma HDL cholesterol concentration. 678Several longitudinal studies have been conducted in initially sedentary, but healthy, individuals to measure the effect of increased physical activity on plasma lipoprotein concentrations. Some of these studies have led to the conclusion that increased exercise significantly elevates plasma HDL cholesterol concentrations, 9 " 15 whereas others have not confirmed this finding.16 '17> 18The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 9-week program of moderate exercise to raise HDL cholesterol levels in young, nonobese, nonsmoking, sedentary men who initially had low plasma HDL cholesterol concentrations (=s40 mg/dl). Methods Study PopulationTotal plasma cholesterol, triglycerlde, and HDL cholesterol concentrations were measured in 8624 boys and girls aged 17 to 18 years. This was done in the framework of the Jerusalem LJpid Research Clinic Prevalence Study (LRC) Received May 12,1987; revision accepted December 4,1987. during the years 1976 to 1979 at the time of the teenagers' military induction health examination. Approximately 5000 of these participants had a second examination 3 to 4 years later at the end of their military service (Kark JD, unpublished data). Of the initial study population, 864 young people were students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the years 1985 to 1986; 458 were men. The median plasma HDL cholesterol level of 17-to 18-year-old men in the LRC prevalence study was 43 mg/dl; upon discharge from military service, it was 42 mg/dl. To detect a 4 mg/dl increase in plasma HDL cholesterol, assuming an intraindividual standard deviation of 5 mg/dl, a B level of 0.10, and a one-...

Aerobic exercise and HDL2-C: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Studies included-Of the 3750 citations reviewed, 21 met our inclusion criteria [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]39,40]. However, we were unable to include two studies because of the inability to retrieve necessary data for HDL 2 -C [39,40].…”

“…However, we were unable to include two studies because of the inability to retrieve necessary data for HDL 2 -C [39,40]. Thus, our percent loss that met our inclusion criteria was approximately 9%, leaving us with a total of 19 studies for analysis [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. A general description of the included studies is shown in Table 1.…”

“…while another two each were conducted in either Finland [11,13], Japan [14,16], or Switzerland [9,17]. The remaining six studies were conducted in either Israel [12], New Zealand [18], Portugal [19], Scotland [5], Sweden [20], or the United Kingdom [4].…”

“…Seven studies were limited to females [4,6,8,10,17,20]. while another eight were limited to males [5,7,11,12,18,21,22]. The remaining four studies included both males and females [13,14,16,19].…”

“…However, the results of previous randomized controlled trials dealing with the effects of aerobic exercise on HDL 2 -C have led to less than overwhelming results [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], with only 30% of HDL 2 -C outcomes reported as statistically significant. While this may lead one to question the utility of aerobic exercise for increasing HDL 2 -C in adults, such a conclusion would be based on the vote-counting approach (percentage of statistically significant results), a procedure that has been shown to be less accurate than the more quantitative meta-analytic approach [23].…”