Effect of a Training Program on Hepatic Fat Content and Cardiometabolic Risk in Postmenopausal Women: The Randomized Controlled Trial

Joaquín Reverter-Masia,Albert Lecube,Alvaro Pano-Rodriguez,Enric Sánchez,Jose Vicente Beltran-Garrido,Vicenç Hernández-González

doi:10.3390/app11146409

Abstract

This 10-week randomized controlled trial investigates the effects of two different training modalities on hepatic fat content and cardiometabolic risk in sedentary postmenopausal women. Besides, alterations in physical fitness, hepatic fat content, and cardiometabolic risk will be associated with changes in those blood parameters that are usually modifiable by exercise training. Postmenopausal women (N = 32; ~61 years) were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment groups; (1) based on international exercise recommendations (EX group; n = 16), (2) exercise plus whole-body electromyostimulation (EX+EMS group; n = 16). Cardiometabolic risk score was calculated based on the international diabetes federation’s clinical criteria. Hepatic fat content was estimated using the fatty liver index. After the intervention, the cardiometabolic risk and the fatty liver index decreased, showing a higher impact on EX + WB-EMS. Physical fitness was assessed through aerobic and strength tests belonging to “Eurofit Testing Battery”. In all of them, significant differences were observed (p < 0.001), though EX+ EMS experienced better improvements (p < 0.05). In conclusion, a 10-week exercise training program, especially with WB-EMS, triggered improvements in physical fitness and reduced cardiometabolic risk and hepatic fat content in sedentary postmenopausal women.

Highlights

This article is an open access articleThe strong link between physical activity and health is a widely studied issue in the literature from diverse points of view
While a physical exercise intervention based on the international recommendations (EX group) improved the cardiometabolic score values, EX + whole body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) improved slightly more, so it can be suggested that the same exercise training with simultaneous WB-EMS could be a suitable complement to enhance those effects
The finding of this work suggests that a supervised exercise training intervention improves cardiometabolic risk, physical fitness, and fatty liver index in postmenopausal women

Summary

Introduction

This article is an open access articleThe strong link between physical activity and health is a widely studied issue in the literature from diverse points of view. Despite a demonstrated inverse relationship between moderate to vigorous physical activity and cardiovascular or functional diseases in older adults existing (≥50 years), few of them meet the physical activity recommendations made by the World Health Organization It should be done on 2 or more days a week.) [7]. Previous researches concluded that sedentary behaviors, such as TV viewing, motorized transport, or leisure-time sitting, have been shown to contribute to adverse health outcomes in older people, such as deteriorated body composition [4], hypertension [5], impaired glucose metabolism [8], altered lipid metabolism (i.e., raised plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL)) [9], low cardiorespiratory fitness [10], and low physical fitness [11]

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