Advertisement

Men who don`t exercise have `dysfunctional` good cholesterol

High levels of good cholesterol - also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) appears to carry cholesterol away from blood vessels to the liver, and from there the liver processes it for removal from the body.

Washington: High levels of good cholesterol - also known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) appears to carry cholesterol away from blood vessels to the liver, and from there the liver processes it for removal from the body.

Because exercise has the potential to protect against heart disease in a variety of ways, Christian K. Roberts and his colleagues at UCLA tested whether HDL in men who weight trained regularly behaved in a healthier way than HDL in sedentary men.

They found that the men who didn't exercise were more likely than those who weight trained to have dysfunctional HDL. Having faulty HDL was associated with numerous other risk factors for heart disease, including high triglycerides and a higher trunk fat mass.

This finding held true regardless of the men's weight, which suggests that maintaining a "healthy" weight isn't as important for healthy cholesterol function as being active by regularly performing strength training.

The study has been published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.