Diet, Exercise & Body Fat
Effects of an energy-restrictive diet with
or without exercise on abdominal fat, intermuscular fat, and metabolic
risk factors in obese women.
Diet-Exercise-Fat Study - Aim
The primary objective was to examine whether the combination of diet and
aerobic exercise (DA) or diet and resistance exercise (DR) is associated
with greater improvements in metabolic risk factors by comparison to diet
only (DO) in obese women. A second objective considered whether reductions
in metabolic risk factors are related to concurrent changes in abdominal
and/or intermuscular fat distribution.
Diet-Exercise-Fat Study - Methods
A total of 38 premenopausal obese women were randomly assigned to one
of three 16-week treatments: diet-only, diet-plus-aerobics or diet-plus
resistance-exercise. Plasma glucose, insulin, and lipid levels were measured
in a fasting state and after a 75-g oral glucose challenge (oral glucose
tolerance test [OGTT]). Total, abdominal subcutaneous, visceral, and intermuscular
fat were measured by magnetic resonance imaging.
Diet-Exercise-Fat Study - Results
Significant reductions in body weight (approximately 10 kg or 10 percent)
and in total, abdominal subcutaneous, visceral, and intermuscular fat
were observed within each group. Fasting and OGTT insulin, total cholesterol,
LDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B also decreased within each group.
The changes in the body fat and metabolic variables were not different
across treatment. Visceral fat alone was related to the metabolic risk
factors both before and after the treatment.
Diet-Exercise-Fat Study - Conclusions
Weight loss was associated with reductions in metabolic risk factors in
obese women. The improvement in the metabolic profile was not enhanced
by the addition of aerobic or resistance exercise. The findings reinforce
the importance of diminished visceral fat in the treatment of insulin
resistance.
Source: Janssen I, Fortier A, Hudson R,
Ross R. School of Physical and Health Education, Queen's University, Kingston,
Ontario. 2002
Weight Loss News
Theories about how to lose weight, how to reduce obesity and general weight
management are constantly changing along with ideas about which weight
loss diet program is best and so forth. At present, however, a balanced
diet combined with regular exercise remains the favorite weight loss strategy
of most dietitians and weight loss experts. Return to Weight Loss Data
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