Body fat, cardiovascular risk factors and polymorphism in the FTO gene: randomized clinical trial and different physical exercise for adolescents

Objective: To investigate the effects of different physical exercise programs and polymorphisms of the FTO (fat mass and obesity-associated gene) on body composition and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents with overweight and obesity. Methods: A randomized, parallel, double-blind clinical trial consisting of the adolescent over-weight from the state public network, in a simple representative random sample, who partici-pated in an aerobic exercise or weight training intervention for 10 weeks. Anthropometry, body composition, biochemical markers, sexual maturation, and rs9939609 polymorphism in the FTO gene were assessed. 347 adolescents had their characterization of nutritional status. 72 individu-als with overweight and obesity were invited to participate. 39 remained for the start of the pro-gram and were randomly allocated to both types of intervention. In the end, 26 subjects participated in the intervention programs, with 12 and 14 in the aerobic and weight training pro-grams, respectively. Results: Heterozygous and homozygous bearers of risk allele A participating in the aerobic pro-gram showed improvements in glycemia (p = 0.002) and total cholesterol (p = 0.023) and a reduc-tion in body fat mass (p = 0.041). The weight training program reduced glycemia in patients with the risk allele A (p = 0.027). Cameron's stage four sexual maturation participants were 2.1 times more likely to improve their body fat (CI = 1.31-3.39). Conclusion: Aerobic exercises produced exclusively a significant decrease in fat mass and total cholesterol in patients with risk allele A. Distinct physical exercise programs may cause diverse changes in risk variables related to the health of adolescents. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. on behalf of Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different physical exercise programs and FTO gene polymorphisms on body composition and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents with overweight and obesity. The results showed that participants with the risk allele A in the aerobic exercise program improved glycemia and total cholesterol and reduced body fat mass. The weight training program reduced glycemia in patients with the risk allele A. Participants with stage four sexual maturation were more likely to improve their body fat. Different physical exercise programs may cause diverse changes in risk variables related to the health of adolescents.