Short-term effects of two integrated, non-pharmacological body weight reduction programs on coronary heart disease risk factors in young obese patients

In order to evaluate the short-term effects (3 weeks) on selected coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors, 90 obese in-patients (body mass index, BMI, > or = 35 kg/m2 received a same low-calorie diet (1200-1800 kcal/day), nutritional education and psychological counselling, and were randomly assigned to either a non-specific, high-volume, low-intensity exercise training program (NET), or to an individualised, low-volume and high-intensity exercise training program (IET), for 5 days/week for 3 weeks. NET and IET programs lead to a significant reduction in blood glucose (6.2 and 7.7% respectively), total cholesterol (17.3%, 12.3%), HDL-cholesterol (13.7%, 15.2%), systolic (8.9%, 5.3%) and diastolic resting blood pressure (10.6%, 3.3%). Total CHD scores were also significantly improved (38.1%, 33.1%). The changes occurred with a relatively moderate decrease in body weight (4.2%, 4.4%) and with still elevated BMI values (41.6 kg/m2). Although IET, compared to NET program, induced smaller reductions of blood pressure, it requires 30% daily training period and may possibly enhance long-term patient compliance.