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 People with at least three unfavorable health stats from a list that
includes large waist size, high blood pressure or triglycerides,
high blood sugar or low “good” cholesterol are said to have
metabolic syndrome, and are at increased risk of going on to develop
diabetes, heart disease or both.
But researchers found that when generally healthy people did
strength-building exercise for less than an hour a week they had 29
percent lower odds of developing metabolic syndrome than their peers
who did no resistance exercise.
“You already get health benefits with even a low amount of
resistance exercise per week, which is good news for people with a
very busy lifestyle,” said lead author Esmee Bakker of Radboud
University Medical Center in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
An estimated one-third of U.S. adults have metabolic syndrome, the
authors write in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Although previous studies
have reported how aerobic exercise, such as running, walking and
swimming, reduce metabolic syndrome, few studies have looked at
resistance exercise alone.
The U.S. government’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
suggest that adults should do “muscle-strengthening activities that
are moderate or high intensity and involve all major muscle groups
on 2 or more days a week” and aerobic exercise 150 or more minutes
each week.
“A modest amount of resistance exercise, such as two 30-minute
sessions per week, has beneficial effects,” Bakker told Reuters
Health by email. “We think that resistance exercise, in addition to
aerobic exercise, should be included in standard medical
recommendations to prevent metabolic syndrome.”
Bakker and colleagues analyzed data on more than 7,400 people who
participated in medical examinations at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas,
Texas, between 1987 and 2006. They ranged in age from mid-30s to
mid-50s at the time of their examinations.
The research team found that 1,147 participants, or 15 percent, had
developed metabolic syndrome during the follow-up period. Meeting
the resistance exercise guideline of two or more days per week
reduced risk of metabolic syndrome by 17 percent overall, compared
to doing no resistance exercise. Those who met both aerobic and
resistance training guidelines had a 25 percent lower risk of
developing metabolic syndrome.
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“This result was independent of other healthy behaviors, such as not
smoking,” Bakker said. “It also made little difference if people did
resistance exercise only on weekends or spread throughout the week.”
Bakker and colleagues plan to study the effect of resistance
training on other health outcomes, such as the heart health benefits
of a one-year resistance exercise training program. They also want
to examine the long-term effects of different types and intensities
of strength training on metabolic syndrome.
“The real next step is to see how we can get people to exercise,”
said Paul Thompson of the University of Connecticut in Hartford, who
wasn’t involved with the study.
“We can talk about the right dose and intensity, but it’s clear that
in most studies, doing something is better than nothing,” he told
Reuters Health by phone. “Most people do nothing, and the key is to
get them to do anything.”
One limitation of the study is that it relies on self-reported
survey data, which could bias the results. Thompson also cautions
that some patients of the Dallas clinic are relatively more affluent
than the rest of the country, so the results might not apply more
generally.
“The increasing American girth has increased metabolic syndrome,
which leads to insulin resistance and makes it harder for insulin to
work,” he noted.
Thompson is studying how exercise affects people who have a tendency
toward metabolic syndrome and ways they can work against a genetic
disposition toward diabetes and hypertension, for example.
“Everybody should have some exercise,” he said. “Play with the dog
or grandkids, do yard work or go for a walk. Just do something for
30 minutes every day.”
SOURCE: http://mayocl.in/2sKzwK5 Mayo Clinic Proceedings, online
June 14, 2017.
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