HealthNewsDigest.com 6/5/2006
(HealthNewsDigest.com).. DURHAM,
N.C. --
Many of the detrimental effects of physical inactivity can be
reversed, and in some cases improved, by a similar period of moderate
exercise, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found in a new
analysis of data from the first randomized clinical trial to evaluate the
effects of exercise in sedentary overweight men and women.
Just as important, the trial participants who exhibited the greatest
decline in physical status during inactivity benefited the most from
exercise training, according to the researchers.
These findings linking the ability of exercise training to reverse
the negative effects of inactivity can be attributed to the exercise
alone, because the participants did not alter their diets during the trial,
the researchers said.
"Continuing to lead an inactive lifestyle leads to a gradual decline
in many important markers for cardiovascular health," said Jennifer
Robbins, an exercise physiologist at Duke, who presented the results of
the study June 2, 2006, at the annual meeting of the American College of
Sports Medicine in Denver.
"The good news is that a small amount of physical activity can make a
big difference in reducing the risks for developing such conditions as
heart disease, stroke or diabetes," she said. "Our findings demonstrate
that while the cost of choosing a sedentary lifestyle can be high,
switching to an active way of life can be beneficial at any time."
The current study stemmed from a recently completed trial known as
STRRIDE (Studies of a Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through
Defined Exercise). The trial, funded by a $4.3 million grant from the
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, investigated the effects of
exercise on sedentary overweight adults at risk for developing
heart disease, diabetes, or both.
The STRRIDE trial, in which the intervention ran for six months,
randomly assigned 334 participants into three different exercise
groups and one control group.
"At the end of the trial, we were surprised to see that many markers
of cardiovascular health declined in participants in the control group,
who did not exercise," Robbins said. "Our Duke group decided to see if
these negative effects could be reversed after the participants spent
the same amount of time in an exercise program."
Of the 61 STRRIDE participants randomly assigned to the control group
53 agreed to the take part in the new study, which ran an additional
six months. The researchers measured 17 biological factors known to
increase cardiovascular risk, including waist size, physical fitness,
visceral fat levels, body mass index, cholesterol levels, insulin
sensitivity and indicators of metabolic syndrome, a precursor of diabetes.
"In the new analysis, we found that waist size, time to exhaustion,
visceral fat and metabolic syndrome scores deteriorated significantly
during the six-month period of inactivity during the original STRRIDE
trial," Robbins said. "However, after six months of exercise training in
the study, 13 of the 17 variables had either reverted to original
baseline levels or even improved."
According to Robbins, only a moderate amount of exercise is needed to
counteract the detrimental effects of inactivity in these individuals.
The STRRIDE trial measured three levels of physical activity: the
equivalents of 12 miles of walking per week, 12 miles of jogging per
week or 20 miles of jogging per week. Participants worked out on
treadmills, elliptical trainers or cycle ergometers in a supervised
setting.
"When looking at the group as a whole, we found it wasn't the
participants with the highest intensity of exercise who accounted for the
combined beneficial effects," Robbins said. "That should be reassuring for
people to know they don't have to do a high-intensity workout to get
these benefits of exercise."
A previous analysis by the Duke group of the same STRRIDE
participants, reported in 2005, found another unhealthy effect of physical
inactivity: inactive participants gained an average of 2 pounds in
six months.
"At that rate, it can be assumed that this group of inactive people
would gain 20 pounds in five years," Robbins said. "This means this
population of sedentary people needed to exercise just to maintain their
current weight. However, our earlier studies have shown that people who
exercise can derive many of the cardiovascular risk benefits even in the
absence of weight loss."
The STRRIDE trial was led by Duke cardiologist William Kraus, M.D.
The Duke team is currently enrolling patients in STRRIDE II, in which the
team will study the effects of weight training, aerobic training, and
aerobic and weight training combined on cardiovascular health.
Joining Robbins in the current study were Cris Slentz, Brian Duscha,
Johanna Johnson and Lori Aiken of Duke, and Joseph Houmard and Jennifer
McCartney of East Carolina University.
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