Effect of Aerobic Exercise and Kefir Consumption on Anthropometric indices, Lipid Profile and Blood Pressure in Overweight Non-athletic Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of aerobic exercise and the consumption of kefir dough on anthropometric indices, plasma lipid profile and blood pressure in overweight non-athletic women.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 32 non-athletic women with overweight in Arak, Iran (mean age= 33.94±8.58 years, mean height= 1.59±0.05 cm, mean weight= 70.15±6.88 kg, and body mass index= 27.35±1.50 kg/m2) who were voluntarily selected and randomly divided into four groups of 8 (control, exercise, exercise + supplement, and supplement). The control group had a normal diet without exercise; the supplement group received 100 ml kefir dough three meals a day for 8 weeks; the exercise group performed aerobic exercise for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week, each for 50 minutes. The exercise + supplement group received both aerobic exercise and kefir dough. Blood and anthropometric variables were measured at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Paired t-test was used to examine the within-group variations and one-way ANOVA to examine the between-group variations. All statistical tests were performed at the significant level of P<0.05.

This study has obtained its ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee of Qom University (Code: IR.QOM.REC.1398.01).

 The combination of kefir dough supplementation and aerobic exercise significantly reduced the mean blood pressure (P=0.003) and BMI (P=0.03) but had no significant effect on total cholesterol (P=0.27), triglycerides (P=0.61), high-density lipoprotein (P=0.16), low-density lipoprotein (P=0.30) and waist-to-hip ratio (P=0.24).

 Overweight women can benefit from the aerobic exercise combined with kefir dough supplementation to reduce their blood pressure and BMI. Further studies are recommended to determine the effect of aerobic exercise and kefir supplementation on serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, low- and high-density lipoproteins, and waist-to-hip ratio.