Leisure-Time Physical Activity, Television Watching, and Plasma Biomarkers of Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Abstract

The benefits of physical activity in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) are thought to be mediated through changes in blood lipids, insulin sensitivity, and thrombogenic factors. Few studies have addressed the effects of both long-term physical activity and inactivity on these factors. The authors assessed associations between long-term leisure-time physical activity, television watching, and biomarkers of CVD risk among 468 healthy male health professionals. Prior to blood collection in 1993-1994, physical activity and television watching were assessed biennially from 1986 to 1994 by a questionnaire. Physical activity was expressed as metabolic equivalents-hours per week. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that metabolic equivalents-hours in 1994 were significantly associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) (positively) and with leptin and C-peptide (inversely). The average number of hours of television watching assessed in 1994 was significantly positively associated with low density lipoprotein cholesterol and significantly inversely associated with HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A1. Average hours of television watching per week assessed in 1988-1994 was positively associated with leptin levels (p < 0.01). The associations of television watching and vigorous activity with leptin and HDL cholesterol were independent of each other. In conclusion, physical activity and television watching were significantly associated with several biochemical markers of obesity and CVD risk.

Associations of TV viewing and physical activity with the metabolic syndrome in Australian adults

“…A higher TV viewing time was also associated with all of the components of the metabolic syndrome, with the exceptions of hypertension and microalbuminuria, while compliance with the recommended public health guidelines for physical activity (≥2.5 h per week) was associated with a reduced prevalence of several components of the metabolic syndrome. The positive association observed between TV viewing and the metabolic syndrome is consistent with that observed in the Bogalusa Heart Study [7] and confirms other reports of an inverse association between physical activity and the risk of the metabolic syndrome [4][5][6]8], and of associations between physical activity and several components of the metabolic syndrome [4,6,[8][9][10]24]. The present findings are also consistent with another population-based cohort study of 612 middle-aged men from Finland [4], which demonstrated that men who reported >3 h of structured or lifestyle physical activity per week were half as likely to develop the metabolic syndrome after 4 years as those who were sedentary (<60 min per week).…”

Combined effects of weight loss and physical activity on all-cause mortality of overweight men and women

“…Benefits to the circulatory system include influences on the lipoprotein metabolism, inflammatory markers, endothelial function and insulin resistance. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] Is physical activity important among those who lose weight? Our study showed that leisure time physical activity had protective effect on all-cause mortality, which is in line with numerous other studies.…”

Television viewing and low participation in vigorous recreation are independently associated with obesity and markers of cardiovascular disease risk: EPIC-Norfolk population-based study

“…The results are comparable in direction but vary in magnitude between men and women. Previous studies have tended to focus on single sex cohorts (Pomerleau et al, 1999;Fung et al, 2000Fung et al, , 2001Hu et al, 2001). In addition, the examination of these associations in a population-based cohort, makes the results more generalisable to the population as a whole when compared to studies that have focused on selected occupationally defined groups.…”

“…There are also a growing number of studies that show that physical inactivity might adversely affect cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and its complications (Fung et al, 2000(Fung et al, , 2001Kronenberg et al, 2000;Hu et al, 2001). These effects might be mediated through obesity and distribution of adipose tissue (Crawford et al, 1999;Pomerleau et al, 1999;Salmon et al, 2000;Vioque et al, 2000).…”