801 LONG-TERM DIET AND EXERCISE INTERVENTION REDUCES CRP LEVELS IN SEDENTARY AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADULTS

Abstract

Background: African-Americans tend to have high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and are at particularly high risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Data on the effects of lifestyle intervention on CRP in African-Americans are sparse. Our study aimed to assess the efficacy of 6-months of diet and exercise intervention on the CRP levels in African-American adults. Methods: African-American adults (N = 34, 30F/4 M, 52 ± 6yrs) who were sedentary, non-diabetic, non-smoking, free of CVD and not on medication completed 6-months of supervised aerobic exercise training (3 days/week, 65% of Vo2max, 40 min/session). 6-weeks prior to initiation of exercise training, subjects underwent dietary stabilization under the supervision of a registered dietician and were required to strictly follow an AHA low-fat, low-salt diet for the duration of the study which was regularly monitored through a 3 days/week diet log. Before and after intervention, fasted plasma samples were sent to Quest Diagnostics for CRP assay. Results: Log-transformations were performed for CRP to normalize the data. On repeated measures ANCOVA, the mean CRP were statistically significantly different (F (1, 32) = 6.703, P = 0.014) between before vs. after training (Mean ± SEM; 3.1 ± 0.4 mg/L vs. 2.4 ± 0.4 mg/L), after adjusting for changed variables (BMI, mean blood pressure (BP) and Vo2max) as covariates. Baseline CRP (P = 0.001) and change in BMI (P = 0.027) predicted change in CRP on univariate regression analysis. Conclusion: Our study illustrates ∼23% reduction in CRP, independent of changes in BMI, BP and Vo2max amongst African-American adults, after 6-months of lifestyle intervention. This may suggest the dominant anti-inflammatory role of lifestyle modifications leading to long-term therapeutic transformation to prevent CVD.