Effects of Combined Training on the Levels of Obestatin, Ghrelin, and Insulin Resistance in Overweight Women

The present quasi-experimental and field research was conducted to evaluate the effect of combined exercises on the levels of obestatin and ghrelin in overweight women.

The study subjects consisted of 34 overweight women with a Mean±SD age of 30.29±4.66 years, a Mean±SD height of 165.11±5.56 cm, a Mean±SD weight of 74.64±7.33 kg, a Mean±SD body mass index of 27.35±1.74 kg/m2, which were selected purposefully and randomly, and assigned to the experimental (n=17) and control (n=17) groups. At first, venous blood samples were taken from subjects after 12 h overnight fasting to measure the levels of ghrelin, obestatin, glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance. Then, the participants of the experimental group participated in a combined exercise program, including warming up, aerobic training, resistance training, and cooling down. All these variables were re-measured after 12 weeks and the obtained data were analyzed. The paired t test was used for intra-group comparison and independent t test was performed for inter-group comparison.

The findings of this study showed that body weight, BMI, waist circumference, glucose level, and ghrelin-obestatin ratio were significantly different between the experimental and the control groups (P≤0.05) after 8 weeks of combined exercise training, but differences in ghrelin, obestatin, insulin levels, and insulin resistance were not significant between the experimental and control groups (P≤0.05).

The combined exercise training, therefore, seems to be a suitable method for weight loss, body composition, waist circumference, glucose level, and ghrelin-obestatin ratio.