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Even
Short Walk Reduces Deadly Clot Risk in Obese
Obese people who are relatively inactive may have trouble
dissolving potentially deadly blood clots, but moderate
exercise a few times per week appears to help restore that
ability, according to new research.
U. S. investigators discovered that obese, sedentary people
are less able than those of normal weight to produce and
release a clot-busting substance known as tissue plasminogen
activator (t-PA), the body's primary defense mechanism against
the formation of blood clots.
Obese people have a higher-than-average risk of developing
heart attack or stroke, both of which can be caused by blood
clots.
While obese people are more likely to carry a host of conditions
that help explain that trend, such as diabetes or high blood
pressure and high cholesterol, study author Dr. Christopher
A. DeSouza suggested that the increased risk seen in obesity
may also stem from problems dissolving blood clots.
"What we just showed here is this is another system
that is impaired" in obese people, he told Reuters
Health.
But obese people are not doomed, DeSouza added. After spending
only three months walking for around 45 minutes every day
for five days each week, almost half of obese study participants
began releasing more t-PA when needed.
After exercise, the ability of some obese people to release
t-PA "looked very similar to their lean, age-matched
counterparts," he said.
These findings provide "further evidence that exercise
can be very beneficial," DeSouza, based at the University
of Colorado in Boulder, noted. "All we asked these
people to do was to go on a walk every day."
DeSouza and his colleagues reported their findings last
week during the American Heart Association's fourth annual
conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular
Biology in Washington, D.C.
During the study, the researchers measured the amount of
t-PA released by the cells lining the blood vessels of 36
sedentary men, 24 of whom were obese.
Participants were then asked to spend between 40 and 45
minutes walking five times each week for three months. DeSouza
explained in an interview that the men were asked to walk
at a "modest" pace, during which they could easily
carry on a conversation.
Before the exercise program, obese men showed a 30 percent
smaller increase in the amount of t-PA their bodies released
in response to a drug designed to stimulate release of the
substance.
And after only three months of exercise, and despite the
fact that they did not lose any weight, 10 of the obese
men experienced a significant improvement in their ability
to release t-PA.
These findings suggest that exercise improves the general
health of arteries, DeSouza said, enabling them to release
t-PA when needed. Why that is remains unclear, he said.
The researcher added that he and his colleagues have also
shown that the ability to release t-PA declines with age,
but, in older adults, that impairment appears to also improve
with exercise.
Exercise "can be a potential benefit to everyone,"
he said.
Article Source: Reuters Health
Article Author: N/A
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