The Effect of Exercise and/or Diet on Health Related Parameters

The Effect of Exercise and/or Diet Body Composition, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Blood Parameters Related to Improved Health in Overweight Females.

The study evaluates the effect of exercise and/or diet during on body weight, body composition and health related blood parameters. Participants are overweight sedentary females, allocated to four different groups: Normal diet, Low-carb-high-fat diet, Normal diet + exercise, Low-carb-high-fat diet + exercise.

Diet and exercise can both be efficient tools to reduce bodyweight, get healthier body composition and improve many different health related blood parameters such as cholesterol and glucose tolerance.

Exercise has superior effect on skeletal muscle in the context of glucose tolerance, but adherence to exercise program can be a huge challenge for overweight individuals. While exercise has profound effect on metabolic health, diet has been superior when it comes to weight reduction. Previous studies have shown that 5-7% weight loss can improve glucose tolerance, measured as reduced fasting glucose and reduced 2-hour post prandial glucose.

We wish to see if the combination exercise and diet is superior to diet only when it comes to over all health.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women
• Sedentary
• Premenopausal
• Caucasian
• BMI 26.9 - 36.1
• Age 33-4
• Living close to, or in Oslo.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnancy
• Breast-feeding
• Smoking or tobacco use
• Previous medical history of cardio-vascular disease (CVD)
• Previous medical history of diabetes
• Previous medical history of endocrine disorder
• Previous medical history of kidney disease
• Use of lipid lowering medication
• Use of diabetes medication