Abstract
Purpose
Frequent consumption of high-fat meals and prolonged sedentary time are prevalent lifestyles that have been associated with an increased risk of vascular and metabolic complications. This study evaluated the acute effects of interrupting prolonged sitting with stair climbing on vascular and metabolic function after a high-fat meal.
Methods
In a randomized, cross-over trial, 12 healthy adults (age: 23.5 ± 2.9 years) consumed a high-fat meal, followed by either 1) a 4-h uninterrupted sitting (sitting trial) or 2) a 4-h sitting interrupted with a 5-min stair climbing (average intensity: 66% of heart rate reserve) every hour (interrupted trial). Plasma triglyceride and glucose concentrations, as well as popliteal artery blood flow and shear rate were assessed at baseline and every hour after a high-fat meal, whereas brachial artery flow-mediated dilation was assessed at baseline and again at the end of each trial.
Results
Plasma triglyceride and glucose concentrations increased after a high-fat meal and returned to baseline at the end of both trials. Following a high-fat meal, brachial artery flow-mediated dilation decreased in the sitting trial, but not in the interrupted trial (sitting trial: 9.65 ± 2.63% to 7.84 ± 2.36%; interrupted trial: 9.41 ± 2.61% to 10.34 ± 3.30%, p = 0.009 for interaction). Compared with the sitting trial, the interrupted trial improved popliteal blood flow and shear rate (p = 0.004 and p = 0.008 for interaction, respectively).
Conclusions
These findings suggest that interrupting prolonged sitting with stair climbing may be an effective lifestyle strategy to prevent against vascular dysfunction that might occur as a result of prolonged sitting after consuming a high-fat meal in young healthy adults.
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Abbreviations
- AUC:
-
Area under the curve
- BP:
-
Blood pressure
- DBP:
-
Diastolic blood pressure
- FMD:
-
Flow-mediated dilation
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- SBP:
-
Systolic blood pressure
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The study had no external financial support.
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This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2016 S1A 5A2A 03928101).
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All authors had access to the data in the study and take full responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. MJC and SYJ contributed to the study design and wrote the manuscript. HJK and ESY provided critical scientific and editorial contributions to the manuscript draft. All authors took part in the analysis and interpretation of data, and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. KB was largely responsible for supervising the drafting of the manuscript and providing critical scientific contributions. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Cho, M.J., Bunsawat, K., Kim, H.J. et al. The acute effects of interrupting prolonged sitting with stair climbing on vascular and metabolic function after a high-fat meal. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 829–839 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04321-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04321-9