Investigating the Effect of Flaxseed Supplementation and Concurrent Training on Certain Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease and Cortisol Levels in Overweight Women [In Persian]

چکیده مقاله

Abstract:   

Introduction: Overweight/obesity is a risk factor for many diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes and has affected a significant proportion of people in developed and developing countries so that it is considered to be the most important nutritional and social problem worldwide. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of four weeks of Flaxseed supplementation and concurrent training on some of the cardiovascular risk factors and cortisol level in overweight women.
Methods: Thirty-six overweight women with BMI> 25 were randomly divided into four groups of 9 people, including concurrent training in combination with flaxseed supplementation concurrent training, Flaxseed supplementation and control. A written consent was obtained from each participant. The concurrent training included aerobic exercises with an intensity of 65% of heart rate reserve and resistance training with an intensity of 60% of 1RM. Meanwhile, the Flaxseed powder (0.62 g per kg of body weight per day) was supplemented during the four-week period. The research hypotheses were tested at the significance level of p <0.05 through repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Four weeks of Flaxseed supplementation in combination with concurrent training significantly reduced the level of cholesterol compared to the control group (p= 0.05) and that of LDL compared to the pretest (p= 0.005). However, the interventions had no effect on the levels of HDL (p= 0.509), triglyceride (p= 0.99) and cortisol (p= 0.778).
Conclusion: Flaxseed supplementation in combination with concurrent training reduced the level of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein. However, it had no significant effect on the other indicators of lipid profile and cortisol level. The present study had some limitations and further research is required.

Keywords: : Overweight women, concurrent training, Flaxseed supplementation, Cortisol, lipid profile