The Best Exercise for Battling the Metabolic Syndrome

People with the metabolic syndrome are 3 times more likely to die of heart disease than healthy persons. They are therefore encouraged to address the different factors that make up the syndrome – high blood pressure, high blood sugar, overweight, decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and raised triglyceride levels – by a change in lifestyle. Each risk factor requires a specific approach, but exercise and good nutrition are common for all of them. Norwegian researchers have investigated which type of exercise is most useful in the metabolic syndrome patients, and reported their findings in the journal Circulation. They compared moderate and high exercise intensity to see which provided the greatest benefit in cardiovascular function and prognosis.

Thirty-two patients (average age 52) were randomly assigned to equal total amounts of either moderate continuous moderate exercise or aerobic ‘interval’ exercise, or to a ‘no-exercise’ group. They exercised 3 times a week for 16 weeks. With the continuous aerobic exercise they exercised at 70% of their highest measured heart rate; with interval training they reached 90% of the highest measured heart rate.

The two exercise programs were equally effective in lowering blood pressure and reducing body weight (average losses of 5 and 8 pounds for the two programs, respectively). The patients on interval training had a greater increase in their VO₂max compared with the continuous moderate exercisers (35% versus 16%). (VO₂max is the best indicator of cardiorespiratory endurance and aerobic fitness.) A similar difference was also seen in the elimination of more of the risk factors that constitute the syndrome in those doing interval exercise (1.9 versus 0.7 risk factors, on average).

We may conclude that interval training-type exercising can improve cardio-respiratory capacity and reverse risk factors to a greater extent than continuous moderate exercise (about double) in patients with metabolic syndrome. Now you know what to do!