PurposeHigh occupational physical activity (OPA) is shown to increase the risk for elevated blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and mortality. Conversely, aerobic exercise acutely lowers the blood pressure up to 25 h post exercise. However, it is unknown if this beneficial effect also apply for workers exposed to high levels of OPA. Cleaners constitute a relevant occupational group for this investigation because of a high prevalence of OPA and cardiovascular disease. Accordingly, the objective was to investigate the acute effects on ambulatory blood pressure from a single aerobic exercise session among female cleaners.MethodsTwenty-two female cleaners were randomised to a cross-over study with a reference and an aerobic exercise session. Differences in 24-h, work hours, leisure time, and sleep ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) were evaluated using repeated measure 2 × 2 mixed-models.ResultsAfter the aerobic exercise session, the 24-h systolic ambulatory blood pressure was significantly lowered by 2.4 mmHg (p < 0.01) compared to the reference session. The 24-h diastolic ABP was unaltered. During work hours, a lowered systolic ABP of 2.2 mmHg (p = 0.02) and a higher diastolic ABP of 1.5 mmHg (p = 0.03) were found after the aerobic exercise session. During leisure time, the systolic ABP was lowered by 1.7 mmHg (p = 0.04) and the diastolic ABP was unaltered. During sleep, the systolic and diastolic ABP was unaltered.ConclusionA single aerobic exercise session lowered 24-h systolic ABP of 2.4 mmHg. Thus, an aerobic exercise session seems to be beneficial for lowering the risk of hypertension among cleaners.

We sense fat by its texture and smell, but it is still unknown whether we also taste fat despite evidence of both candidate receptors and distinct fat taste sensations. One major reason fat is still not recognized as a basic taste quality is that we first need to demonstrate its underlying neural activity. To investigate such neural fat taste activation, we recorded evoked responses to commercial cow milk products with 0.1%, 4%, and 38 % fat via high-density electroencephalography (EEG) from 24 human participants. The experimental design ensured that the products would only be discriminable via their potential fat taste; all stimuli were carefully controlled for differences in viscosity, lubrication, odor, temperature, and confounding tastes (sweetness, acidity, and “off-taste”) and were delivered directly onto the tongue using a set of computer-controlled syringe pumps. Advanced topographical pattern analysis revealed different neural activation to the milk products 85–134 ms after stimulus onset, which, as expected, best discriminated the two milk fat extremes (0.1% and 38% fat). Notably, this time period has previously been shown to also encode basic taste qualities, such as sweet or salty. By adding to the evidence of cortical fat taste processing in response to staple food, our finding not only substantiates that we taste fat but also highlights its potential relevance during our everyday lives with possible large-scale impacts on motivational eating behavior to explain overconsumption of energy-dense foods.