Abstract
Several studies have reported individual benefits of yogurt and exercise on health; however, their combined effects remain unclear. Twenty‐four healthy individuals participated in the study and were randomly assigned to the following four groups: control, yogurt, exercise, and combination. The participants consumed yogurt and exercised for 2 weeks, and we examined the combined effects of yogurt and exercise on physiological biomarkers. Individually, yogurt and exercise did not exert a significant effect on biomarkers of depression or cardiovascular disease, although vitamin D levels increased in the exercise group. However, in the combination group, serotonin levels increased, while levels of triglycerides and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein, which are biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases, decreased. In conclusion, the results of the study showed that, in healthy individuals, a combination of yogurt and exercise led to greater increases in serotonin levels and reductions in triglyceride and high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein levels, relative to those observed for yogurt or exercise alone; therefore, this combination could have implications for the prevention of depression and cardiovascular disease.
Highlights
Yogurt, which contains probiotic microbes, has been known to exert beneficial effects on physiological conditions such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and depression (Astrup, 2014; Huang, Wang, & Hu, 2016)
The significance of the results regarding the prevention of depression and CVD observed for the combination group was stronger relative to that of the results for the yogurt and exercise groups separately
Serotonin levels did not change in the separate yogurt and exercise groups but increased significantly in the combination group, despite the short study period and small sample size relative to those of previous studies
Summary
Yogurt, which contains probiotic microbes, has been known to exert beneficial effects on physiological conditions such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and depression (Astrup, 2014; Huang, Wang, & Hu, 2016). In a meta-analysis examining depression, probiotic consumption led to significant reductions in depression scale scores in both healthy control participants and patients with depression (Huang et al, 2016), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels decreased with yogurt consumption (Astrup, 2014). We sought to determine whether the combination of yogurt and exercise exerted preventive effects on depression and CVD. To this end, we assessed changes in biomarkers for depression and CVD (i.e., serotonin, vitamin D, lipid profile, and hs-CRP) in healthy adults who consumed yogurt and engaged in exercise. The mean ages of participants in the control, yogurt, exercise, and combination groups were 20.7 ± 0.8, 21.7 ± 2.2, 21.2 ± 1.2, and 21.5 ± 1.6, respectively
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