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.