Animal study: strength training without steroids is good for heart and blood vessels

weight-lifting

Strength training boosts the concentration of the ‘good’ cholesterol HDL in the blood, and is therefore good for the heart and blood vessels. Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain made the discovery. But they also discovered that the use of nandrolone-decanoate undoes the positive effect of strength training.

Strength training boosts the concentration of the ‘good’ cholesterol HDL in the blood, and is therefore good for the heart and blood vessels. Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain made the discovery. But they also discovered that the use of nandrolone decanoate undoes the positive effect of strength training.

The researchers divided 157 male rats over a number of groups and subjected each group to a different regime for a period of three months.

The experiment lasted 18 months. For the first six months the women did nothing. This enabled the researchers to determine the effect of hormone therapy on inactive women.

Some groups did no training, others had to do strength training every other day, which involved running with an increasingly heavy weight attached to their tail.

Strength training boosts the concentration of the ‘good’ cholesterol HDL in the blood, and is therefore good for the heart and blood vessels. Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain made the discovery. But they also discovered that the use of nandrolone-decanoate undoes the positive effect of strength training.

Some groups were given injections of nandrolone decanoate [the active ingredient in Deca-Durabolin]; others were not. The human equivalent of the dose they used would be 600 mg per week.

The researchers examined a number of factors, including the concentration of ‘good’ cholesterol, HDL, in the rats’ blood. The more HDL you have, the less quickly your arteries fur up and the less likely you are to develop cardiovascular disease in the long run.

Strength training increased the amount of HDL, the Spaniards discovered.

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The anabolic steroid nandrolone-decanoate on the other hand had a negative effect on HDL levels. It almost halved it.

2

The figure below shows the interaction between strength training and nandrolone use. In the rats that were not given nandrolone-decanoate their HDL level rose steeply. In the rats in the nandrolone group the positive effect was nowhere to be seen. There was actually a small decrease in HDL levels.

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The researchers also looked at the effect of a high-protein diet, and at the effects on other indicators of cardiovascular health. After analysing all the data, the Spanish researchers concluded that doping-free strength training probably improves cardiovascular health – but not if strength athletes use anabolic steroids.

EFFECTS OF THE DIETARY AMOUNT AND SOURCE OF PROTEIN, RESISTANCE TRAINING AND ANABOLIC-ANDROGENIC STEROIDS ON BODY WEIGHT AND LIPID PROFILE OF RATS.

Aparicio VA, Sánchez C, Ortega FB, Nebot E, Kapravelou G, Porres JM, Aranda P.

Abstract

in English, Spanish

Introduction: Dietary protein amount and source, hypertrophy resistance training (RT) and anabolicandrogenic steroids (AAS) may affect body weight and plasma and hepatic lipid profile. Material and methods: 157 adult male Wistar rats were randomly distributed in 16 experimental groups resulting in: normal-protein (NP) or high-protein (HP) diets, whey or soy-protein diets, with or without RT and with or without AAS, for 3 months. Results and discussion: Final body weight was lower in the RT and AAS groups compared to sedentary and non- AAS groups, respectively (all, p<0.001). Plasma total cholesterol (TC) was lower for the HP compared to the NP diets, for the whey compared to the soy-protein diets and for the AAS compared to the non-AAS groups (all, p<0.001). Plasma HDL-cholesterol was higher in the RT groups (p<0.05) but lower for the AAS groups (p<0.001), the HP and the soy-protein diets (p<0.05). Plasma triglycerides (TAG) were lower for the HP diet (p<0.001), for the RT (p=0.002) and the non-AAS groups (p=0.001). Liver TC was lower for the NP (p<0.01), for the soyprotein (p<0.05) and for the AAS groups (p<0.001). Liver TAG were lower for the whey-protein diet (p<0.001), RT and non-AAS groups (both, p<0.05). Some interactions were found, such as the greater effect of AAS on reducing body weight of rats that performed RT or ingested a HP diet (all, p<0.05). HDL-cholesterol was higher when RT was combined with HP diets (p=0.010) or non-AAS and when HP diets were combined with non-AAS (both,p<0.001). Groups that combined RT with non-AAS administration obtained the lowest hepatic TAG (p<0.05). Conclusion: Among all the interventions tested, AAS was the factor that most negatively affected plasma and hepatic lipid profile, whereas HP diets and RT could benefit lipid profile, especially when combined.

Copyright © AULA MEDICA EDICIONES 2013. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

PMID: 23808440 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23808440

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