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Fitness
Boosts Removal
of 'Bad' Cholesterol
Being physically fit boosts levels of "good" HDL cholesterol and
improves the removal of "bad" forms of cholesterol, researchers
in Australia report.
HDL cholesterol is known to be
the main component of "reverse cholesterol transport" -- the removal
of "bad" LDL cholesterol from the arteries and its excretion by
the liver -- but "higher levels of HDL are not necessarily a reliable
indicator of enhanced reverse cholesterol transport," the authors
explain in the medical journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and
Vascular Biology.
"It is well known that regular
exercise protects against heart disease," Dr. Dmitri Sviridov
of the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne told Reuters
Health. Most likely, there are several mechanisms that account
for the benefits of exercise, he said.
One of these mechanisms involves
HDL, Sviridov noted.
He and his colleagues compared
HDL levels in 25 elite athletes and 33 men who were not athletes
but who participated in moderate exercise.
As expected, athletes had higher
levels of HDL cholesterol than non-athletes, the researchers report.
Athletes also had higher levels of a molecule called apoA-1 that
transports HDL.
"We found that 'good cholesterol'
is enhanced in people who exercise regularly and that may have
a protective effect," Sviridov said. The researchers also uncovered
evidence that high levels of fitness are associated with greater
efficiency of the process of reverse cholesterol transport.
Sviridov's team believes that fitness
not only promotes production of HDL, but also enhances reverse
cholesterol transport.
Although athletes in the study
had higher levels of HDL, the difference was not enormous, according
to Sviridov.
"You don't have to be an Olympian
to reap maximum benefits," he said. "Formation of 'good cholesterol'
in people who exercise regularly without aiming at sporting glory
is enhanced almost as much as in professional athletes."
SOURCE: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis,
and Vascular Biology, June 2004.
Reference
Source 89
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