Resistance training improves inflammatory level, lipid and glycemic profiles in obese older women: A randomized controlled trial

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of resistance training on inflammatory levels, lipid and glycemic profile in obese older women. Thirty-eight obese older women (68.2 ± 4.2 years, and 41.0 ± 6.2% of body fat) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: A training group (TG, n = 19) that performed 8 weeks of RT; or a control group (CG, n = 19) that did not perform any type of exercise. The RT program consisted of 8 whole-body exercises for 3 sets of 10-15 repetition maximum (RM) carried out 3 times a week. Anthropometric, body composition (DXA), muscular strength (1RM), and blood sample measurements were performed pre- and post-training. After the intervention period, the TG demonstrated significantly (P < 0.05) lower values than CG for interleukin-6 (TG = 3.3 ± 1.2 pg/mL vs. CG = 3.8 ± 1.4 pg/mL), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TG = 3.1 ± 1.5 pg/mL vs. CG = 3.5 ± 1.8 pg/mL), C-reactive protein (TG = 1.8 ± 1.4 mg/L vs. CG = 3.2 ± 1.8 mg/L), low-density lipoprotein (TG = 85.1 ± 11.0 mg/dL vs. CG = 148.7 ± 0.1 mg/dL), glucose (TG = 90.8 ± 11.1 mg/dL vs. CG = 97.9 ± 6.9 mg/dL), trunk fat (TG = 12.7 ± 3.5 kg vs. CG = 14.1 ± 4.3 kg), and total body fat (TG = 37.5 ± 5.7% vs. CG = 43.1 ± 5.6%). Furthermore, TG presented significantly (P < 0.05) higher values for high-density lipoprotein (TG = 58.3 ± 15.4 mg/dL vs. CG = 55.2 ± 11.8 mg/dL). These results suggest that 8 weeks of RT promote improvements on inflammatory levels, and the lipid and glycemic profile in obese older women. These findings further support the important role of RT in healthy aging.