Impaired glucose tolerant (IGT) adults are at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Exercise or metformin reduce CVD risk, but the efficacy of combining treatments is unclear.
Objective: To determine the effects of exercise training plus metformin (EM), compared with each treatment alone, on CVD risk factors in IGT adults.
Design and methods: Subjects were assigned to placebo (P), metformin (M), exercise training plus placebo (EP), or EM (8/group). In a double-blind design, P or 2,000 mg/d of M were administered for 12 weeks and half performed aerobic and resistance training 3 days/week for ≈ 60 min/day at 70% pretraining heart rate peak. Outcomes included adiposity, blood pressure (BP), lipids, and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Z-scores were calculated to determine metabolic syndrome severity.
Results: M and EM, but not EP, decreased body weight compared with P (P < 0.05). M and EP lowered systolic blood pressure by 6% (P < 0.05), diastolic blood pressure by 6% (P < 0.05), and hs-CRP by 20% (M: trend P = 0.06; EP: P < 0.05) compared with P. Treatments raised high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.05; EM: trend P = 0.06) compared with P and lowered triacyglycerol (P < 0.05) and metabolic syndrome Z-score compared with baseline (EP; trend P = 0.07 and EM or M; P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Although exercise and/or metformin improve some CVD risk factors, only training or metformin alone lowered hs-CRP and BP. Thus, metformin may attenuate the effects of training on some CVD risk factors and metabolic syndrome severity in IGT adults.
Copyright © 2012 The Obesity Society.