EFFECT OF PHYSICAL TRAINING ON LIPID PROFILE IN HEALTHY, YOUNG MALES: A FOLLOW UP STUDY

Background and objective: Obesity itself is believed to be a morbid condition by many and it is also thought to be a cause of many health problems and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart diseases. Regular physical exercise has got many health benefits including its effect on metabolism particularly on lipids. The objective of present study is to assess the effect of exercise training on lipid profile. Materials and Methods: We followed up 40 male students of Physical education aged between 18 to 25 years, for the period of nine months. Those with history of inborn errors of metabolism, those having endocrine disorders, those with diagnosed familial hyperlipidemia are excluded from our study. Their lipid profile parameters were measured in the beginning of exercise training period and then at the interval of every 3 months, with the first reading taken as baseline. Result: when we compared the readings with each other as well as with the baseline reading, we found that the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and very Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) decreased significantly while high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) increased as the duration of exercise training period progressed. Significant reduction was also observed in TC/HDL-C ratio as the duration of physical training progressed. Conclusion: Findings of our study suggest that, regular physical exercise has possible effect on improving lipid metabolism as lipid profile improved with increase in duration of exercise training period. Regular physical activity may be associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus type 2, coronary heart disease.