Abstract
Introduction: Obesity is a major risk factor for inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. We
tried to assess whether 12 weeks of aerobic exercises affect serum resistin level and lipid profile
in overweight females or not.
Methods: For this purpose, 32 non-trained adult females with the mean age of 38 ± 7 years old
and body mass index (BMI) of 32 ± 3 kg/m2
were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise (n=16)
and control (n=16) groups. Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise program including 3 sessions
weekly at 60-75% of maximum heart rate was considered. Fasting serum resistin level, lipid
profile (total cholesterol [TC], low-density lipoprotein [LDL] and high-density lipoprotein [HDL]
cholesterol, and triglyceride [TG]), and anthropometric indexes were measured and compared
between the two groups before and after training.
Results: Serum resistin, lipid profile markers, and anthropometrical indexes were not significantly
different at baseline between the two groups (P>0.05). TG, TC, LDL, and serum resistin did not
change significantly after the intervention in the exercise group (P>0.05). However, a significant
increase in HDL (exercise: 46.3 ± 9.6 vs. 51.4 ± 8.5, P=0.011; control: 45.8 ± 7.9 vs. 46.8 ± 6.9
P=0.326) and a significant decrease in LDL/HDL ratio (exercise: 2.94 ± 0.12 vs. 2.47 ± 0.19,
P=0.019; control: 3.14 ± 0.23 vs. 3.18 ± 0.63, P=0.265) were observed after the intervention.
Other variables in the control group remained unchanged.
Conclusion: Aerobic exercises had no impacts on the inflammatory profile but could improve
lipid profile with an emphasis on HDL in adult obese women.