Multicomponent exercise program improves blood lipid profile and antioxidant capacity in older women

This study intended to determine the effect of multicomponent exercise on blood lipid profile and on antioxidant capacity in older women. Forty women aged 60-80 years participated in a supervised multicomponent exercise program. Plasma contents of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), apolipoprotein A-1 (Apo A-1) and apolipoprotein B (Apo B-100), total antioxidant status (TAS) and the enzymatic activities of glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were evaluated before and after 8-month training. The multicomponent exercise program induced a significant decrease in TG, TC/HDL-C and Apo B/Apo A-1 and a significant increase in HDL-C and Apo A-1 (p < 0.05). There was a significant increase in plasma TAS as well as GR and GPx enzyme activities. The present data show that an 8-month supervised moderate-intensity multicomponent exercise program resulted in beneficial improvements of blood lipid profile that were accompanied by positive modulation of antioxidant capacity. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.