Effect of One Course of Pilates Training with Vitamin D supplement on Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 Level and Superoxide Dismutase Activity in Overweight Men: A Clinical Trial Study

Sedentary life and vitamin D deficiency are considered as related factors to increased inflammation and oxidative stress in obese individuals. This study was performed to determine the effect of Pilates training with vitamin D supplement on Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1(MCP-1) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in overweight men.

In this single-blind clinical trial, 56 overweight men were randomly assigned to control, Pilates, vitamin D and combination groups. The Pilates training was performed for 8 weeks with the intensity of 50-75% of reserve heart rate, 3sessions/week. The vitamin D and combination groups received 50,000 units of vitamin D per week. The levels of MCP1 and SOD activity were in the first and 8 weeks after interventions.

Vitamin D status in subjects was lower than normal level. MCP-1 level in Pilates, vitamin D and combination groups significantly reduced and SOD activity increased after 8 weeks (P<0.05), but the combined intervention had a stronger effect on the modulation of MCP-1 level and SOD activity compared to the other two interventional groups (P<0.05). In addition, the effect of Pilates exercises on increasing SOD activity was more than vitamin D intake (P<0.05).

It seems that Pilates training and Vitamin D intake can be exert their protective effects in overweight individuals with abnormal vitamin D status by an increase on the SOD activity and decreasing the inflammatory index of MCP-1. Although these effects developed with combined intervention, Pilate training was associated with greater increases in antioxidant levels than vitamin D.