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Physical activity has been shown to lower levels of inflammatory markers. However, results are inconsistent, indicating different modes of exercise may have different effects on inflammatory cytokines. We aimed to investigate the effects of 12 weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic, resistance, or combination exercise on TNF-α and IL-6 compared to no exercise in overweight and obese individuals. TNF-α levels were significantly decreased at week 12 compared to baseline by 20.8 % in the Aerobic group (p = 0.011), 26.9 % in the Resistance group (p = 0.0001), and 32.6 % in the Combination group (p = 0.003). Levels of TNF-α were significantly lower in the Combination compared to the Control group after 12 weeks of exercise training (-22.6 %, p = 0.025) when adjusting for baseline levels. Twelve weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic, resistance, but mainly combination exercise training decreased TNF-α in overweight and obese individuals compared to no exercise. Therefore, combination exercise training may be physiologically relevant in decreasing the risk of developing chronic diseases.

This study investigated the arterial stiffness status in overweight/obese Australian women compared with their lean counterparts. Twenty-six Caucasian women were designated into one of two groups: overweight/obese (body mass index [BMI] 25-34.9 kg/m2 [ n=12]) and lean (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 [n=14]) groups. Participants were assessed for clinical, anthropometric, metabolic, and augmentation index (AIx) measurements. Age was similar between groups (P=.482). BMI was significantly higher in overweight/obese compared with lean participants (30.26±1.09 vs 21.62±0.52 kg/m2, P=.001) as well as the percentage of body fat (40.60±2.43 vs 21.57±1.13, P=.001), waist circumference (91.47±2.77 vs 70.67±1.60, P=.001), and waist/hip ratio (0.81±0.04 vs 0.71±0.03, P=.036). Overweight/obese group showed higher total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting glucose levels compared with the lean group (all P<.05). Both systolic (122.92±3.18 mm Hg vs 108.14±2.42 mm Hg, P=.001) and diastolic (83.58±2.43 mm Hg vs 72.43±1.29 mm Hg, P=.0001) blood pressures, as well as AIx (50.08±4.7 vs 120.79±2.17, P=.001) were significantly higher in the overweight/obese group compared with the lean group. AIx was positively associated with measurements of body composition (P<.05), triglycerides (r=0.361, P=.035) and glucose levels (r=0.371, P=.031), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (r=0.793 and r=0.718, respectively; P=.0001). This data suggests that arterial stiffness is associated with obesity, along with other metabolic abnormalities in Australian women., (© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The authors investigated the effects of moderate-intensity resistance, aerobic, or combined exercise on blood pressure and arterial stiffness in overweight and obese individuals compared with no exercise. Participants were randomized to 4 groups: control, aerobic, resistance, and combination. Assessments were made at baseline, week 8, and week 12. In participant-designated responders, those in the intervention groups who had improved levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) or augmentation index (AI), we observed a significant decrease of SBP in aerobic (-4%, P=.027), resistance (-5.1%, P=.04), and combination groups (-6.3%, P=.000) at week 8 and in the combination group (-6.3%, P=.005) at week 12, compared with baseline. AI was significantly lower at week 12 in the aerobic (-12%, P=.047), resistance (-9.5%, P=.036), and combination (-12.7%, P=.003) groups compared with baseline, as well as in the combination group (-10.7%, P=.047) compared with the control group. We did not observe significant changes in SBP, DBP, or AI between the interventions when assessing the entire cohort, although there were significant improvements in a subgroup of responders. Thus, some but not all overweight and obese individuals can improve blood pressure and arterial stiffness by participating in regular combination exercise, decreasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease., (© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Obesity is a global epidemic and a growing cause of comorbidities seen by clinicians. Yet apart from recent guidelines developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council there are few clinical tools available to tackle this problem., Objective: This article describes a tool for detecting aspects of both diet and lifestyle likely to adversely affect the body weight of an individual., Discussion: The Diet, Activity and Behaviour Questionnaire (DAB-Q) is designed to identify the nutrition, physical activity and eating behaviours likely to lead to energy imbalance and increased body weight in an individual. This tool can be used in clinical practice to help individualise appropriate behavioural prescriptions for successful weight management.

Over half of all Australians are classified as overweight or obese and this is increasing by 1% of the population per year. Obesity is linked with a range of health ailments including type 2 diabetes, heart diseases and some cancers. At a population level it is well accepted that obesity is a result of the increasing use of modern technology, resulting in decreased energy expenditure, in combination with easily available high energy density foods, the "obesogenic environment". In the modern environment, there are two major areas of management to assist the overweight and obese. Both include a change in lifestyle. Future strategies in weight management should include reduction in energy density and increase in daily physical activity.