The effect of BMI and aerobic capacity on blood lipid profile

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if blood lipids were influenced by BMI and aerobic capacity (VO2max) in seemingly healthy adult women (n = 57). Participants were divided into normal and overweight groups based on BMI (< 25 kg/m² and ≥ 25 kg/m² respectively) and low, moderate and high fitness groups based on VO2max (< 27 ml/kg/min, 27–32.9 ml/kg/min, and ≥ 33 ml/kg/min, respectively). Venous blood was sampled for the determination of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and HDL2-C and HDL3-C concentrations. A 2 (BMI) x 3 (VO2max) ANOVA was performed using Tukey post hoc analysis. Blood lipid concentrations of TG and VLDL-C were significantly higher in the overweight low fitness level group than the overweight moderate fitness level group (p = 0.031 and p = 0.030, respectively). There were no other significant differences in any blood lipoprotein-cholesterol concentrations or age between groups.