Effect of Eight Weeks of Walking on High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol

Increasing HDL-C has been proven to reduce the risk of CHD. Several trials have demonstrated that exercise training can increase HDL-C. The objective of this study was to investigate a dose response relationship between exercise intensity and HDL-C in sedentary Indians who are otherwise healthy.

94 Participants were randomized to one of the four groups. Group A served as the control group with no exercise and group B (Low intensity), C (Moderate intensity) and D (High intensity) were administered exercise at 50 - 60%, 60 - 70% and 70 - 80% of Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) respectively. Supervised exercise training was administered for five days per week for eight weeks. HDL-C was measured using direct homogenous method and all other plasma lipid measurement was performed before and after eight weeks of intervention.

We found that there was no significant change in HDL-C between (p = 0.17) and within groups. HDL-C increased by 1.75 mg/dl in the high intensity exercise group, decreased by 1.78 mg/dl in the moderate intensity group, reduced by 0.13 mg/dl in the low intensity group, and. increased by 0.83 mg/dl in the control group.

Improvement of 1 mg/dl has been associated with significant CHD risk reduction. There is lack of evidence for a dose response relationship between exercise intensity and HDL-C. Even though there was no statistically significant increase in HDL-C the present investigation suggests that aerobic exercise administered at 70 - 80% HRR appears to improve HDL-C in short term as there was a clinically significant improvement of 1.75 mg/dl.