Stronger doesnt mean healthier in the aspect of metabolic disorders

Introduction

Physical fitness has frequently utilized for interpreting healthy status [1]. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between physical fitness and metabolic property in college student, faculty, and staffs. Since
obesity has been implicated as a major cause for several age-associated diseases, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and coronary heart disease.

Methods

The current study recruited 77 subjects and divided them into normal weight (N= 51) and overweight (N= 16, BMI > 25) according to WHO classification. Both physical and metabolic fitness were compared in the two groups.

Results

We found that hand-grip power and back muscle strengths in the overweight group was significantly greater than the normal weight group. Performance on 30-sec and 60-sec sit-up and heart rate recovery after a 3-min step test were not different between two groups. Conversely, serum insulin response during oral glucose challenge and blood triglyceride level was greater in overweight group than those in the normal weight subjects. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly greater in overweight group than those in normal weight groups.

Discussion/Conclusion

This result indicated that physical fitness does not always represent health status in aspect of developmental trend towards age-associated metabolic disorders. In addition, obesity apparently plays important role in the metabolic fitness but does not necessarily correlate with physical fitness.

References

[1]. Pohjonen T. Ranta R (2001). Effects of worksite physical exercise intervention on physical fitness, perceived health status, and work ability among home care workers: five-year follow-up. Preventive Medicine. 32(6):465-75.