Improved glucose and IL-6 by aerobic training despite no change in insulin and insulin resistance in obese women

Background: Regular physical activity is recognized as a non-pharmacological treatment of inflammation and glycemic profile. Objectives: This exercise aimed to determine the effect of aerobic training on serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), glucose and insulin resistance in obese females. Patients and Methods: Thirty-two middle-aged obese women (body mass index [BMI], 32 ± 3 kg/m2) aged 35 to 45 years were randomly assigned to exercise (aerobic training, n=16) and control (n=16) groups. Exercise subjects were completed a 12 weeks aerobic training program as 3 sessions per week at 60%-80% of HRmax and control subjects received no training. Pre- and post-training of fasting serum IL-6, insulin, insulin resistance, and glucose concentration were measured and compared between 2 groups. Results were compared using t test at a significance level of P 0.05. Results: Exercise group obtained significant decreases in BMI, body fat %, and abdominal obesity as well as the concentrations of serum IL-6 and fasting glucose (P 0.05). No significant difference was observed between pre- and post-training of insulin and insulin resistance in the exercise group (P 0.05). There were no alterations in these variables in the control group (P 0.05). Conclusions: These data suggest that aerobic training may improve glycemic profile in absence of change in insulin resistance of women with abdominal obesity.