BLOOD LIPID RESPONSES TO A SINGLE BOUT OF EXERCISE IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN

Abstract

Since very little is known about exercise-induced blood lipid changes in African-Americans, our purpose was to characterize the effect of a single bout of aerobic exercise on blood lipids in 14 sedentary, premenopausal African-American females (Age = 32 ± 5, BMI = 29.4 ± 5.6, %FAT = 36 ± 8). Subjects expended 350 kcals of energy on a motor driven treadmill at 60% to 70% of VO2peak. Fasting blood samples were obtained during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, 24 hr before, immediately, 24 and 48 hr after exercise. All blood samples were analyzed for serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride, lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and HDL-C2 & 3 subfractions. Significant differences over time were determined using a 1 × 4 repeated measures ANOVA (p < 0.05 for all). Relative to baseline, HDL-C and HDL3-C were elevated immediately after exercise and remained elevated 48 hr after the exercise bout. Exercise did not alter any other serum lipid or lipoprotein variable. These results demonstrate that a single bout of aerobic exercise can improve blood lipid profiles in sedentary African-American women by increasing HDL-C.