Effect of an 8-week endurance training program on markers of antioxidant capacity in women.

Aim: The effects of endurance training and of exhaustive treadmill running on low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation in women are not clearly established.
Methods: Twenty training and 10 control persons, all not endurance trained, aged 26+/-4 and 23+/-3 years, were recruited for 8 weeks of running training 3x/week 30 min. The susceptibility of LDL to in vitro oxidation, conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and cholesterol, lipoproteins, triglycerides, apolipoprotein (apo) A-I, apo B and lipoprotein (a) were determined before and after training, at rest and after exhaustive spiroergometric exercise. The training was tailored individually at the speed of the 4 mmol/L lactate threshold.
Results: At rest and after treadmill running, training induced an increase in lag-time (P<0.05), a decrease in MDA (P<0.05), and lower values for cholesterol (P<0.001), LDL (P<0.01), triglycerides (P<0.05) and apo B (P<0.001), but no increase for high density lipoprotein (HDL) or apo A-I. Before training, treadmill running induced lower conjugated dienes and malondialdehyde, after training an increase for LDL and decrease for cholesterol and triglycerides, no increase for HDL or apo A-I. In the control group, all parameters remained unchanged, only NO lowered (P<0.01).
Conclusion: Endurance training in women shows favorable effects on LDL oxidation, cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and apo B.