The effect of eight weeks aerobic training on serum irisin, glucose homeostasis and blood lipid levels in untrained women

It seems that exercise training can be effective in improving glucose homeostasis and blood lipids by inducing circulating level of irisin. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of eight week aerobic training on serum irisin, blood lipid and blood sugar in untrained women. This semi- experimental study was conducted on 20 sedentary volunteer women among a university of Rasht city in two groups. The control group conducted the routine daily activities, but the experimental group participated in 65 min aerobic training, three times a week for eight consecutive weeks. Blood lipids, glucose homeostasis and circulating irisin were assessed at baseline, and after 8 weeks of interventions. Data were analyses using SPSS version 22 and A P-value of P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. In the training group, insulin (p=0.02) and HOMA (p=0.04) were decreased and HDL-C (p=0.00) was increased following 8-weeks of intervention. However, there were no significant changes in fasting blood sugar, triglyceride, cholesterol, LDL-C and irisin (P>0.05). In the control group, fasting blood sugar (p=0.04), insulin (p=0.01), HOMA (p=0.00), triglyceride (p=0.03) and irisin (p=0.03) were increased following 8-weeks of study period. After intervention, participants undergoing exercise training had significantly lower cholesterol (p=0.00), triglyceride (p=0.02), insulin (p=0.00) and HOMA (P=0.00) and higher HDL-C (p=0.00) compared with the control group. It seems that aerobic training in sedentary women is associated with an improvement in glucose homeostasis and HDL-C independently of the irisin changes.