Changes in plasma lipids and apoproteins associated with physical training in middle-aged sedentary men

The effect of endurance training on plasma lipoproteins was investigated in 27 healthy sedentary men between the ages of 20 and 55 years. During the first 4 months of the study, 13 of them (group A) participated in a training program (3 hours/wk), whereas the others served as control subjects (group B). At the end of this period the control subjects also underwent a 4-month training program. In both groups the training significantly increased physical working capacity at a heart rate of 130 bpm (PWC130), whereas it decreased the resting heart rate (p less than 0.05). Concomitantly with this improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness, a significant increase in the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentration was observed (p less than 0.01); this was due to an increase in both HDL2 beta and HDL2 alpha + 3 cholesterol concentrations. The plasma total and HDL-apoprotein AI and apoprotein AII concentrations were not significantly affected by the training. Significant decreases in plasma triglyceride (p less than 0.05), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (p less than 0.05), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (p less than 0.001) concentrations were also observed, but only in group B, which showed a much greater increase in PWC130 at the end of the training period than group A; the decrease in the LDL cholesterol concentration in this group was accompanied by a slight decrease in the LDL-apoprotein B concentration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)