| Abstract | Overweight/obese post-menopausal women exhibit higher serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6). The purpose of this study was to analyze the acute and chronic effects of 12 weeks of combined exercise training on plasma IL-6 levels in overweight/obese post-menopausal women. Forty-three women were randomly assigned to an exercise (EX, n=22) or an education (ED, n=21) group. EX completed resistance training (2 sets of 8 resistance exercises at 80% of 1RM) followed by aerobic training (25-minute treadmill walk at 70-80% of HRR) three times per week for 12 weeks. ED attended classes and activities two times per week for 12 weeks to control for seasonal variation and social interaction. Blood samples were collected a total of 8 times: 4 times before training (BT) (before the acute exercise bout (PRE), immediately after exercise (PO), 1 hour after exercise (1HR), and 2 hours after exercise (2HR)) and 4 times after training (AT) at the same time points. Lean post-menopausal women were recruited for collection of one resting blood sample to serve as healthy controls (LN, n=11). Baseline IL-6 concentration was significantly higher in the EX (p<0.001) and ED (p<0.001) groups compared to the LN group. No statistically significant BT/AT x group interaction was observed (p>0.05) when the BT and AT PRE time points of the EX and ED groups were compared. In the EX group, the PRE (p<0.001), 1HR (p=0.038) and 2HR (p=0.005) time points were significantly lower than the PO time point. No statistically significant differences were observed when corresponding time points before and after the intervention within a group were compared (i.e., EX BT PRE to EX AT PRE) (p>0.05). Exercise training may need to be longer than 12 weeks and paired with weight loss to achieve a significant reduction in inflammatory markers and thus a significant improvement in health in overweight/obese post-menopausal women. |
