Effects of strength training on blood lipoprotein concentrations in postmenopausal women

Cleiton Silva Correa,Álvaro Reischak-Oliveira,Aline Bittencourt,Bruno Costa Teixeira

doi:10.1590/1677-5449.0083

Abstract

Strength training is often identified as a contributing factor in prevention of diseases and as a non-pharmacological treatment for metabolic disorders and for control of body mass. Its protective effects and utility for management of disease are amplified in people at risk of diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemias, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Recently the benefits of strength training have been used to reduce the risk of these diseases emerging in postmenopausal women, who are at greater risk of CVD than men of the same age. Notwithstanding, little is known about the effects of strength training on metabolism of blood lipoproteins. The objective of this review was to compare the results of articles that have investigated the effects on lipoprotein concentrations of strength training in postmenopausal women. Current articles dealing with the subject, with publication dates from 1979 to 2012 and large numbers of citations by well-known researchers were identified on the Pubmed, Scopus and EBSCO databases. It was concluded that strength training possibly has an action that affects lipoprotein metabolism and concentrations in postmenopausal women.

Highlights

Aging of the global population is a recent phenomenon in the history of humanity
10% of the population in the majority of developed countries are more than 50 years old and 95% of women reach menopause
Strength training has proved effective for reducing serum concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), TAG and low density lipoproteins (LDL)-c and for increasing concentrations of high density lipoproteins (HDL)-cholesterol;[4,6,9,10,11] several authors report that after different periods of strength training (e.g. 8 and 20 weeks), there is no effect on plasma concentrations of lipids or lipoproteins.[17,22]

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Aging of the global population is a recent phenomenon in the history of humanity. Currently, 10% of the population in the majority of developed countries are more than 50 years old and 95% of women reach menopause (i.e. last menstruation, confirmed 12 months after amenorrhea caused by failure of the ovaries). The majority of investigations involving physical exercise have concentrated on studying the effects of aerobic and/or anaerobic exercise on lipid metabolism, primarily during the postprandial period.[1,2] Some authors have observed that exercise has effects on blood parameters in populations at increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD), such as women in the postmenopausal period.[3,4]. Some authors have demonstrated and argued in favor of the beneficial effects of strength exercise (SE), which consists of exercises performed against an external resistance (weights, machines employing pulleys, bars or own body weight) and are primarily used to increase muscle strength It has been observed, that strength training can be used to reduce postprandial lipemia (PPL), through increased activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), a key enzyme in hydrolysis of triacylglycerol.[6,9,10]. In view of the above, the objective of this study was to investigate and evaluate the effects of SE on plasma lipoprotein concentrations in postmenopausal women by conducting a review of Brazilian and international literature

METHODS

Findings

CONCLUSIONS