Comparison of the Effect of Different Intensities of Exercise Training with Saffron Supplementation on the Metabolic Balance in Overweight and Obesity Women

The aim of this study was to compare the intensity of exercise with saffron supplementation on metabolic balance in overweight and obesity women.

Among obese and overweight women, 42 obese women with body mass index above 25 were selected by purposeful and accessible randomized to six groups of high intensity training, continuous exercise, control, high intensity training with saffron supplement, continuous training with saffron supplement and saffron supplement group. After the initial sampling, the intervention groups were active for 12 weeks. All data analysis was performed at the significant level P≤0.05.

There was a significant difference in weight, body mass index and fat percentage between control groups, training interventions and saffron (P=0.001). There was a significant difference in the visfatin between all groups with intermittent exercise and saffron group (P≤0.05). The results also showed that there was a significant difference in this variable between saffron, endurance training and control group. There was a significant difference in the Irisin variable between the intermittent exercise group and saffron, endurance and saffron and endurance training with control group (P≤0.05). In the ghrelin variable, there was only a significant difference between the saffron and intermittent exercise groups with all groups (P≤0.05). The other groups did not show significant differences.

According to these results, intense intermittent exercise with saffron supplement is appropriate strategy for health and obesity prevention. Of course, more research is needed in the future to reach a definitive conclusion.