Effects of exercise and food restriction on serum cholesterol and liver lipids

¹ Department of Foods and Nutrition and Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan

The effect of 15 weeks of regular, vigorous exercise (swimming) on serum and hepatic cholesterol in rats was studied. The effect of exercise on body composition and the interrelation of body composition and serum and hepatic cholesterol was also investigated. Caloric restriction without exercise was imposed on another group of rats in an effort to produce animals with body composition similar to those subjected to exercise. The calorie-restricted animals were retarded in growth as evidenced by lower ash weight but their body composition on a percentage basis was almost identical to the ad libitum fed animals who were not exercised. It was concluded that: 1) Exercise was effective in preventing most of the increase in body fatness and serum cholesterol concentration associated with an increase in age. 2) Neither total nor free cholesterol concentration in the liver was affected by exercise, but the concentration of total hepatic lipids was reduced. 3) Body fatness, serum cholesterol, and concentration of total hepatic lipids were all positively correlated with each other and inversely related to weight of the adrenal glands in the animals.

Key Words: body composition • adrenal weight

Submitted on November 26, 1963