Abstract
Visceral lipid accumulation, organ hypertrophy and a reduction in skeletal muscle strength are all signs associated with the severity of obesity-related disease. Intermittent fasting (IF) and high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) are natural strategies that, individually, can prevent and help treat obesity along with metabolic syndrome and its associated diseases. However, the combinatorial effect of IF and HIIE on energetic metabolism is currently not well understood. We hypothesized that their combination could have a potential for more than strictly additive benefits. Here, we show that two months of every-other-day intermittent fasting regimen combined with a high-intensity intermittent exercise protocol (IF/HIIE) produced a synergistic effect, enhancing physical endurance (vs. control, HIIE and IF) and optimizing metabolic pathways of energy production in male Wistar rats. The IF/HIIE group presented enhanced glucose tolerance (vs. control, HIIE and IF), lower levels of plasma insulin (vs. control and HIIE), and a global activation of low Km hexokinases in liver (vs. control, HIIE and IF), heart (vs. control and HIIE) and skeletal muscle (vs. control, HIIE and IF). The IF/HIIE synergism, rather than a simply additive effect, is evidenced by increase in muscle mass and cross-section area, activation of the FoF1 ATP synthase, and the gain of characteristics suggestive of augmented mitochondrial mass and efficiency observed in this group. Finally, important reductions in plasma oxidative stress markers were present preferentially in IF/HIIE group. These findings provide new insights for the implementation of non-pharmaceutical strategies to prevent/treat metabolic syndrome and associated diseases.
Highlights
Obesity and metabolic syndrome are both important risk factors for life threatening diseases that can target cardiovascular and hepatic systems [1, 2]
To determine the adaptive changes on energetic metabolism and physical performance induced by Intermittent fasting (IF), high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE), and their combination (IF/HIIE), the three regimens were imposed on age-matched young adult Wister rats over 8 weeks (Fig 1)
Our results demonstrate that IF combined with HIIE can induce an increase in BAT mass; the statistical evaluation pointed to a contribution of both IF and HIIE in the result
Summary
Obesity and metabolic syndrome are both important risk factors for life threatening diseases that can target cardiovascular and hepatic systems [1, 2]. The adaptations promoted by HIIE in rodents has been demonstrated to have a direct effect on the body parts recruited during the activity (e.g. skeletal muscles [13]) and an additional global effect in some organs like liver [14] and heart [15]. Both IF and HIIE approaches are appropriate treatments for obesity-related problems in humans [16, 17]. IF and HIIE strategies, respectively, resemble the evolution patterns of the human diet [18], namely an erratic food availability and the high-intensity intermittent exercise analogous to hunting/gathering activities [19]
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