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LisaS
06-07-2006, 01:28 AM
Effect of resistance exercise on postprandial lipemia
J Appl Physiol 94: 694-700, 2003
full text found here:
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/search?sortspec=relevance&author1=&fulltext=&pubdate_year=2003&volume=94&firstpage=694

This was another interesting study. It looked at postprandial lipemia - that is, your blood lipids after a meal. Since most of your waking day is postprandial, the authors speculated that your TG might be elevated for most of the day. They state that reducing postprandial lipemia "is believed to lower the risk of hear disease by improving TG metabolism".

According to the authors, aerobic exercise performed on one day is known to decrease the insulin response to a meal the next day and attenuate the blood lipid response. The energy expended (EE) in this effort seems to effect the lipid response - that is a longer period of walking (more energy burned) will have a greater effect on TG levels. At the same EE level, there does not seem to be a difference between low-intensity and moderate intensity aerobic exercise and the effect on TG - though both have a significant effect compared to controls.

This study compared strenuous resistance exercise (weight training) and aerobic exercise designed to have the same EE levels and looked at effects on postprandial TG, insulin response, fat oxidation and blood glucose. They suspected RE would have better results on these factors. This was an intense RE program: 3x10 of 10 exercises at the subjects 10RM - a whole body workout - 2 mins rest between sets for an 88 min workout. Their EE was actually measured during the workout and that number used to design their AE program for comparison. The subjects were healthy men and women, 21-40 who were accustomed to weight training. The gross EE was 1.7 +/- 0.1 MJ for RE and 1.6 +/- 0.1 MJ for AE. This is important to note for the discussion section.

The subjects trained on day one and reported back the next day, 15 hours later, while on a 12 hr (overnight fast). After more bloodwork, a breakfast was consumed within 15 mins (89g fat, 74g CHO, 32g Pro, give or take). The meal was standardized to be a high-fat meal, 1.2g fat/kg body mass. More blood every 1/2 hour for 6 hours.

From the discussion :D
The major finding of this study is that a single session of strenuous resistance exercise completed ~16 h before meal ingestion decreases baseline TGs as well as the total serum TG response to a high-fat meal. Furthermore, resting fat oxidation was significantly increased 15 h after RE. Our findings are in agreement with studies using aerobic exercise; however, the EE of the RE was much less than that for the AE that has been shown to attenuate the postprandial TG response in the literature.

We did not find an attenuated postprandial lipemic response after acute aerobic exercise expending ~1.7 MJ. This finding appears consistent with the literature. Studies by Tsetsonis and Hardman (35, 36) suggest that the effect of aerobic exercise on the postprandial TG levels is related to the EE of the prior exercise. The mean EE in 13 published studies that examined the effect of prior exercise on postprandial lipemia averaged 3.4 MJ (range 1.6-7.2 MJ) with a value for d of -0.57, a moderate effect size according to Cohen (4). The relationship between EE and the reduction in the postprandial AUC relative to control for those studies is moderately strong (r = 0.62), indicating that as the EE increases, the decrease in postprandial lipemia becomes greater. Tsetsonis and Hardman (35) reported that 90 min of moderate-intensity exercise (expending ~3.5 MJ) significantly reduced the postprandial lipemic response to a meal, whereas low-intensity exercise (expending ~1.7 MJ) for the same duration did not. On the basis of subsequent findings (36), the decrease in postprandial TG levels was presumably a function of the EE of the exercise and not the exercise intensity.

In contrast, the resistance exercise used in this study reduced the postprandial lipemic response despite the relatively low energy expended during the exercise bout (1.7 MJ). The strong effect size (d = -0.78), on the basis of adjusted means, indicates that the reduction in postprandial lipemia after resistance exercise is similar to reductions observed after aerobic exercise with an EE during exercise approximately double that observed in this study. This suggests that the response after resistance exercise may not be related to the energy expended during exercise but to some other factor linked to the strenuous muscle contraction associated with weight lifting.
So, there seems to be something about using your muscles in weight training that has a specific effect, and not just the energy used while working out.

later in the discussion:
In addition, the RE in this study did not alter insulin and glucose concentrations compared with Con. Some previous studies have found no change in fasting insulin levels 22-24 h after the last bout of resistance exercise in trained persons (18, 27), whereas others report that resistance training decreases insulin levels (24) or that resistance-trained persons have lower absolute insulin levels than untrained persons (25). Kraemer et al. (18) examined insulin levels on three consecutive days before and after a bout of resistance exercise performed on each day in resistance-trained men. They found no differences in insulin levels on each day and no differences between days. Similarly, discrepant findings exist concerning the effect of an acute bout of aerobic exercise on insulin levels. Tsetsonis et al. (37) found a significantly lower insulin response to a meal 16 h after aerobic exercise in trained women compared with untrained women as well as to a control trial in the absence of prior exercise. The untrained women, however, did not exhibit the insulin attenuation in response to prior exercise. Gill et al. (8) found that despite reductions in fasting and postprandial TG and insulin levels the day after 90 min of aerobic exercise at 60% VO2 max, there were no relationships between the exercise-induced changes in fasting or postprandial TGs and the exercise-induced changes in insulin, suggesting that changes in markers of insulin sensitivity after acute aerobic exercise were not the primary factor mediating changes in postprandial TGs. Although we did not directly measure insulin sensitivity, the lack of changes in fasting and postprandial glucose and insulin in our study also suggest that postprandial changes in TGs caused by RE are unlikely to be mediated by altered insulin sensitivity.
So - whatever it was about RE that helped TG was independent of any insulin sensitivity changes. They theorize about various mechanisms that might have been involved.

and they conclude:
Interestingly, Tikkanen et al. (33) found a 65% increase in skeletal muscle LPL activity after 12 mo of increased leisure-time physical activity. The physical activity was of lower intensity exercise than that used in previous studies, yet LPL activity more than doubled in skeletal muscle. If an increase in LPL activity is the mechanism for the reduced postprandial lipemia after exercise, it appears that various types of exercise can be utilized to initiate this effect. Additionally, the reduced postprandial lipemia has been shown after both continuous and intermittent aerobic exercise (9), supporting the Centers for Disease Control and American College of Sports Medicine 1995 position stand that to achieve health benefits, at least 30 min of activity should be accumulated on most days of the week (22). The more recent American College of Sports Medicine position stand (26) also recommends that "resistance training should be an integral part of an adult fitness program" and that "the inclusion of resistance training ... should be effective in the development and maintenance of muscular strength and endurance, [fat-free mass], and [bone mineral density]." On the basis of findings in this study, reduced postprandial lipemia is an additional health benefit of resistance exercise.

In summary, these results suggest that resistance exercise of the type used in this study attenuates baseline TG concentrations as well as the total postprandial TG response and increases resting fat oxidation 15 h after exercise. Resistance exercise may provide health benefits other than those traditionally associated with this type of exercise.

So - don't forget to hit the weights.

Ottawa
06-07-2006, 09:57 PM
Thanks Lisa. It's great to see studies like this supporting aspects of strength training, particulary relating to the effects well after the session is over.

LisaS
06-08-2006, 12:58 PM
Thanks for responding - I was starting to think I might be way out of people's comfort zone just posting the link and quoting some of the discussion.
These subjects acted as their own controls - so the data of controls vs. post-exercise I think is particularly relevant, since in life we are also our own controls. Also, since these were trained subjects, we can think their normal TG levels would be pretty good - yet it was perturbed more by the high-fat meal after non-exercise than after exercise.
Here are the graphs:
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/94/2/694/F1

you can see that the RE measures were lower at baseline (pre-meal) and stayed lower throughout the post-meal period.

[now - if it was most appropriaet to look at high-fat meals and their influence on TG rather than high-CHO meals I couldn't say ... but their meals had plenty of simple CHO ]

You'll see in this graph the term "area under the curve" or AUC. This is just what it says - as if you colored in the upside-down U-shape on the graph and then measured the area. Just because calculating this value is a calculus exercise doesn't mean that you have to be a math major to understand its meaning and value.

the AUC is essentially the product (multiplication) of the two axis (just like length * width = area). So if you have a graph of velocity (Mi/hr) vs. time (hr) -- the AUC is the product of velocity * time -- or the distance travelled. But we only have a few measured points you say-- yes, but we also have the curve - and we can assume that every point along the curve is as if it were measured - minute by minute, second by second. An infinite number of exact measurements. (math or physics people, don't beat me up :D )

In our case, the axis are TG conc and time - so the units are rather bizarre (mmol*hr)/L or mmol/L/hr - but the concept is the "whole" -- all the conc measures considered over the whole time. It lets you kind of quantify the magnitude of the difference in the 3 curves to see things that might not be obvious just looking at the graph.

Again, if it were velocity and time - did they travel really different distances just by averaging a little faster? In our context, did they really have a different overall TG level just by letting it rise a little more?

just in case you were wondering about these graphs.

Mitra
06-08-2006, 01:50 PM
Lisa, I'm also glad to see this - but I'm going to need to take my time getting into the details of all this info :).

Ottawa
06-08-2006, 04:29 PM
Though no doctor, I tend to go with experience as a great judge of whether a system works or not.
Prior to PP and being grossly obese, my body would take lengthy time recovering from bangs, bruises, extended canoe trips, to the point I would even book a few extra days to recover. Going on Protein Power helped immensly with this (likely through lower triglycerides and more nutritious food choices). I found that exercise, and in particular, resistance training, seems to have improved that further.
I find the study amazing that this group agreed to give blood samples so often, through what seems to be a grueling test period.:)

LisaS
06-08-2006, 04:35 PM
well, most of the samples were taken at rest after the meal the next day - but I think they had to wear a contraption to measure their energy expended during the workout - which would be annoying - During exercise, subjects wore the Cosmed K4b2 portable metabolic unit for measurement of EE. AE consisted of walking for the same duration as RE and at an intensity estimated to elicit the same EE as RE. Telemetry was used with the Cosmed unit so that continuous measurement of O2 uptake (http://jap.physiology.org/math/12pt/normal/Vdot.gifO2) and EE could be monitored. Subjects did not perform any purposeful exercise on the control, nonexercise day. All subjects completed the treatments in their entirety.

Ottawa
06-08-2006, 08:41 PM
I had been thinking more of the samples drawn from the group after the meal. I know some people that are hesitent to get any needles, yet they had samples drawn several times as part of the test.
"Blood was collected at baseline and at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 h after meal ingestion."

This group was amazing as well for the physical effort required.
Treatments.

The three treatments consisted of a resistance exercise bout (RE), an aerobic exercise bout (AE), and a control trial (Con). RE consisted of three sets of 10 repetitions of 10 exercises performed at the subjects' 10 repetitions maximum, determined 4 wk before testing to alleviate any soreness associated with muscle damage. Soreness was assessed before and 24 and 48 h after the RE treatment by using a pain intensity scale from 1 to 10 (21). If 10 repetitions were not achieved for a given set, the load was subsequently reduced before the next set of exercise. Exercises included bench press, latissimus dorsi pull-down, shoulder press, biceps curl, triceps extension, leg press, leg curl, dumbbell-weighted lunges, calf raises, and sit-ups. Sit-ups were performed on a decline bench until failure. There were 2 min between each set and each exercise, making the total exercise time 88 ± 3 (SD) min.

Billie
06-08-2006, 09:14 PM
Lisa, in your opinion the validity of this study with 14 people, is it realistic?

It would seem that given the conditions of the study, it would be. It is very managed, heck I am not sure of the correct scientific terms :) but it would seem replicable to me and also carefully measured, albeit as you say, controlled by the responders of the study.

"These results indicate that resistance exercise lowers baseline and postprandial TG, and increases resting fat oxidation, 16 h after exercise". It is amazing that 16 hours after exercise the body is still working, yeah for resistance is right.

Nice study, if we take all the pieces of what we are learning, it really does a nice supplement to PP I think, thanks Lisa.