Caucasian and south Asian men show equivalent improvements in surrogate biomarkers of cardiovascular and metabolic health following 6-weeks of supervised resistance training

Background: The South Asian population have greater cardiovascular risk than their age-matched Caucasian counterparts, characterized by unfavorable biomarkers. South Asians may also be partially resistant to the pleiotropic benefits of physical activity on cardiovascular health. There is a current absence of studies that compare markers of cardio-metabolic health between Caucasians and South Asians employing resistance exercise. This study set out to compare the response in biomarkers of cardio-metabolic health in Caucasians and South Asians in response to resistance exercise.

Methods: Caucasian (n=15, 25.5 ± 4.8 yrs) and South Asian (n=13, 25.4 ± 7.0 yrs) males completed a 6-week progressive resistance exercise protocol. Fasting blood glucose, insulin, and their product insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglycerides (TRIGS), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), total cholesterol (TC), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), asymmetric dimythylarginine (ADMA), L-arginine (L-ARG) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were established at baseline and following resistance exercise.

Results: There were significant improvements in fasting glucose, TC, LDL, HDL and VEGF in both groups following resistance exercise (p<0.05, for all). No change was observed in insulin, HOMA-IR, TRIGS, ADMA, L-ARG following resistance exercise (p>0.05, in both groups). CRP increased in the South Asian group (p<0.05) but not the Caucasian group (p>0.05).

Conclusions: The cardio-metabolic response to resistance exercise is comparable in young Caucasian and South Asian males though inflammatory response to exercise may be prolonged in South Asians.