Plasma lipid and lipoprotein profiles in pre- and post-menopausal middle-aged runners

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Summary. Plasma lipid and lipoprotein profiles were compared in middle‐aged trained and untrained women before and after menopause. Subjects were assigned to one of four groups: (1) pre‐menopausal trained (Pre‐T: n= 17, aged 42 ±5 years, body fat 19±5%, training distance 53 ±20 km week‐1, V̇o2max 49 ±4 ml kg‐1 min‐1, mean±SD); (2) pre‐menopausal untrained (Pre‐UT: n= 26, 42 ±5 years, 24 ±7%, 34 ±6 ml kg‐1 min‐1); (3) post‐menopausal trained (Post‐T: n= 16, 54 ±3 years, 20 ±4%, 43 ±19 km week‐1, 41 ±5 ml kg‐1 min‐1); and (4) post‐menopausal untrained (Post‐UT: n= 15, 55 ±3 years, 25 ±6%, 31 ±3 ml kg‐1 min‐1). There were no significant differences in total cholesterol (range 173–194 mg dl‐1), triglyceride (56–72 mg dl‐1), and HDL‐cholesterol (HDLC: 76–85 mg dl‐1) among the four groups. LDL‐cholesterol (LDLC) in the post‐menopausal women (Post‐T: 96 ±32 mg dl‐1; Post‐UT: 104 ±23 mg dl‐1) tended to be higher than in the premenopausal women (Pre‐T: 86 ± 25 mg dl‐1, Pre‐UT: 81 ± 23 mg dl‐1). LDLC/HDLC ratio in Post‐UT (1·42 ±0·38 unit) was higher than in the pre‐menopausal women (Pre‐T: 1·03±0·31 unit, PP<0·05), whereas the ratio in Post‐T (1·20 ±0·38 unit) was not different from those of the pre‐menopausal groups. These results suggest that endurance running protects against the increase in LDLC/HDLC ratio that frequently occurs after menopause.