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Exercise reduces incidence of metabolic syndrome

A recent study shows that in people aged 55 to 75 years, a moderate program of physical exercise can significantly offset the potentially deadly combination of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes known as metabolic syndrome, according to a Dec 21, 2004, news release from Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore. Researchers found that although exercise improved overall fitness, the reduced incidence of metabolic syndrome was more strongly linked to a decrease in total and abdominal body fat and an increase in muscle leanness than to improved fitness.

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The researchers' findings stress the importance of physical exercise in treating adults with metabolic syndrome, which is defined as having three or more risk factors that make it more likely for a person to develop heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Risk factors include high blood pressure, elevated blood glucose levels, excess abdominal fat, and abnormal cholesterol levels. Estimates of the prevalence of metabolic syndrome range from 25% to 40% of US adults aged 40 and older.

Researchers studied a group of 104 older adults for a six-month period between July 1999 and November 2003 to assess the benefits of a fixed program of exercise training. None of the participants had previous signs of cardiovascular disease beyond untreated, mild hypertension. One half of the study participants were randomly assigned to a control group that received a booklet that encouraged increased physical activity, such as walking, to promote good health. The other half participated in supervised exercise for 60 minutes three times per week. The combination of exercises was designed to work all major muscle groups and the heart and increase circulation. Exercises included aerobic activity on a treadmill, bicycle, or stair-stepper, as well as weightlifting.

The researchers measured changes in participants' risk factors, body fat, and muscle and fitness levels and found substantial improvements in the group that exercised for six months. Aerobic fitness, as measured by peak oxygen uptake on a treadmill, increased by 16%, and strength fitness increased by 17%. The average weight loss in this group was 4 lbs, with much of the fat loss offset by increased muscle mass. The fat in the abdominal region--an important risk factor for heart disease and metabolic syndrome--was reduced by 20% among people in the exercising group. People in the group that received the booklet and did not participate in supervised exercise had either no or significantly Less improvement than those in the exercising group.

At the beginning of the study, 43% of all participants had metabolic syndrome. At the end of the study, participants in the exercising group had no new cases of metabolic syndrome, and the condition had resolved in nine of them, a reduction of 41%. In the control group, eight participants no longer had the syndrome, and four new cases appeared--an overall reduction of only 18%.

Exercise Combats Metabolic Syndrome in Older Adults (news release, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dec 21, 2004) http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_ releases/2004/12_29_04.html (accessed 7 Jan 2005).

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Exercise reduces incidence of metabolic syndrome

AORN Journal, Feb, 2005

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