Effect of regular exercise with different intensities on oxidized LDL levels in obese men

Macrophages and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) have been verified playing vital roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The role of exercise intensity in circulating ox-LDL is not clearly understood in obesity and it is not well known which exercise intensity is needed to ox-LDL reductions in response to endurance training. Thus the purpose of this study was to comparison the effect of regular high-intensity vs. moderate-intensity exercise on ox-LDL in obese men.

Twenty four sedentary obese men (aged: 41.0 ± 5.9 years and BMI: 31.1 ± 3.4 kg/m2; ± SD) volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned to moderate-intensity exercise (MIE) group (n=8), high-intensity exercise (HIE) group (n=8) or control group (n=8). The subjects in MIE group walked 2 miles in 30 minutes on a treadmill on 4 days per week for 12 weeks according to the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American College of Sports Medicine; however, the subjects in the HIE group performed endurance training 4 days a week for 12 weeks at an intensity corresponding to 75-80% individual heart rate reserve (HRR) for 45 min.

The results showed that total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and LDL were decreased and HDL increased after MIE and HIE (P<0.05). ox-LDL concentration was decreased only after HIE. For TC and HDL significant differences were observed between MIE group and HIE group (P<0.05).

The results suggest that although lipid profile of obese men improves after regular moderate and high-intensity exercise, ox-LDL levels decreases only after regular high-intensity exercise.