Effectiveness of a 12-week Program of Combined Exercise in Reducing Visceral Fat as Measured by Computerized Tomography Imaging

According to the 2014 WHO report on obesity, the incidence of obesity has risen, affecting more than 600 million people worldwide, with 1.9 billion classified as being overweight (1). Specifically in Korea, the 2013 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey reported the prevalence of obesity to be 37.6% in men and 25.1% in women over the age of 19 yr, which has increased every year (2). It is clear that obesity has become a serious social health problem, both locally in Korea and worldwide, and is a significant risk factor for a number of serious health conditions and chronic diseases (3-4). Exercise has been shown to promote physical health, including weight management (5). Recently , there is emerging evidence of additional benefits of exercise programs that combine aero-bic and resistance training for weight management (6-7). However, there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of a combined program of exercise in directly reducing visceral fat. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of a 12-wk program of combined exercise training in lowering the visceral fat content, measured with computerized tomography (CT) imaging, in a group of Korean female college students. Prospective participants were female college students who visited S rehabilitation hospital in Seoul, Republic of Korea, for a weight management intervention. Prospective participants did not engage in a regular program of exercise and had no health problems. Sixteen participants were enrolled into our study, to yield a statistical power of 0.80, with an alpha error probability of 0.05 and an effect size of 0.4, calculated for a 2 X 2 repeated analysis of variance design (G-power program 3.1.3, Germany). The relevant demographic characteristics of the study group were an average age of 21.19±1.33 yr, average height of 160.43±5.35 cm, average weight of 65.64±5.07 kg, and average body mass index of 25.50±1.51 kg/m 2. Participants were randomly assigned to two groups, the combined exercise (n=8) or the control (n=8) group. Participants in our exercise group completed our combined program of exercise, consisting of a 30-min period of treadmill running, performed at an intensity of 60 to 80% of maximal heart rate reserve , followed by a 30-min program of resistance training including the following exercises: 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions of squats, leg extensions, lunges, chest press, lat-pull downs, and abdominal crunches; the entire set was performed 5 d per week for 12 wk. Outside of this prescribed program of …