Effects of Regular Aerobic Exercise and Resistance Training on High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels in Taiwanese Adults

Abstract

Increased levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) can improve endothelial function. This may help reduce cardiovascular risks and mortality. Evidence has been provided on the association between cardiometabolic traits, such as HDL-C and exercise modalities. However, there is the absence of studies investigating this association in Taiwan. We assessed the relationship between exercise type and HDL-C among Taiwanese adults. Data were collected from Taiwan Biobank (TWB), a national biomedical research database that contains the genetic information of ethnic Taiwanese residents gathered from 2008 to 2016. We enrolled 24,856 participants aged 30 to 70 years who completed a questionnaire about their recent health behaviors including smoking, drinking, and exercise. Regular exercise was categorized as non-aerobic exercise (separated as weight training, ball game, and mixed exercise) and strict aerobic exercise. Linear regression models were used to assess the effects of exercise in a questionnaire-based manner. After multivariate adjustments, HDL-C was positively associated with aerobic (β = 1.33748, p < 0.0001) and non-aerobic (β = 2.56210; p < 0.0001) exercise. Positive associations were also found for resistance training (β = 4.01828, p = 0.0020), ballgame (β = 2.43815, p = 0.0001), and mixed exercise (β = 2.47021, p < 0.0001). This study demonstrated that both aerobic and non-aerobic exercise have positive effects on HDL-C among Taiwanese adults. Among the non-aerobic exercise groups, resistance training had the greatest effect.

A large-scale observational study linking various kinds of physical exercise to lipoprotein-lipid profile

“…Regular exercise increases the level of HDL-C in a dose-response manner [ 5 – 8 ]. Almost all studies indicated that exercise increases HDL-C to some degree, which is a consistent result from both human [ 4 , 9 – 13 ] and rats [ 14 – 16 ]. Moreover, regular exercise was found to improve “cholesterol efflux capacity”, the ability of HDL-C to carry cholesterol from one’s bloodstream to the liver for clearance [ 17 ].…”

Prediction of Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Czech Adults: Normative Values and Association with Cardiometabolic Health

“…The same study showed a prevalence of T2D significantly decreasing across the CRF quartiles (from 7.0% to 0.9% in men and 5.8% to 0.4% in women), which was also observed in Brazilian subjects (20–59 years) (22.9% versus 0.9% in men and 12.2% versus 1.8% in women) [ 30 ]. The association between CRF and dyslipidemia is very well documented [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. In fact, there are non-exercise models that include dyslipidemia as an independent variable [ 47 ].…”

Importance of Resistance Training in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease Risk

“…This is why it is essential that much evidence supports the role that RT improves HDL-cholesterol whilst reducing total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides in adults [41][42][43]. What is particularly interesting is that RT shows a stronger association than aerobic exercise when attempting to improve HDL-cholesterol [44,45]. It appears that an increased volume (via increased numbers of sets or repetitions), rather than intensity or load, has a greater impact on lipid profiles [46].…”