The effect of two weeks of circuit resistance training with and without bee pollen supplementation on plasma lipid profiles in young college men

The cholesterol accumulation in macrophages and each of the modulating factors of blood circulation and tissue cholesterol levels can be considered as important factor in arthroscholorisis disease. The people usually are interested to ues herbal supplements such as bee pollen due to  the side effects of some authorized and unauthorized artificial supplements The aim of this study was to assess the effect of circuit resistance training and bee pollen supplementation on plasma lipid profiles in young college men.

Twenty three healthy male subjects with an average age of 23.26±2.26 years and body mass index of 23.00±2.88 kg/m2 were divided into two groups including: placebo - training and bee pollen - training. Circuit resistance training consisted of 12 stations (each station lasts for 30 seconds at 40% of one repetition maximum) for two weeks (five sessions per week). Bee pollen was used daily, 10 gr twice a day, in the morning and immediately after exercise (5gr). Blood samples were taken before and 48 hours after the last session and were used for analysis of lipids, lipoproteins, and apolipoproteins A (Apo A) and B (Apo B). Data were analyzed using by two-way ANOVA and paired samples t-test at p<0.05.

The result showed a significant decrease in the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), very low-density lipoprotein (vLDL-C), lipoprotein a [Lp (a)], and Apo B and a significant increase in the levels of Apo A, and Apo A/Apo B in the bee pollen - training group (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the levels of variabels among groups (p≥0.05).

Bee pollen supplementation with circuit resistance training significantly improved cardiovascular important parameters. Probably the existance of polyphenols in bee pollen has caused prevention of lipoprotein oxidation and lead to the reduction of Apo B.