Dr. Arthur Leon, professor of exercise physiology, has co-authored a just-released journal article appearing in PLoS ONE:
“Adverse Metabolic Response to Regular Exercise: Is it a Rare or Common Occurrence?” by Claude Bouchard, PhD; Steven N. Blair, PED; Timothy S. Church, MD, MPH, PhD; Conrad P. Earnest, PhD; James M. Hagberg, PhD; Keijo Häkkinen, PhD; Nathan T. Jenkins, PhD; Laura Karavirta, PhD; William E. Kraus, MD; Arthur S. Leon, MS, MD; D.C. Rao, PhD; Mark A. Sarzynski, PhD; James S. Skinner, PhD; Cris A. Slentz, PhD; and Tuomo Rankinen, PhD. PLoS ONE, 2012
The article, published May 30, has generated considerable attention from the media because the researchers found that, in analyzing data from six rigorous exercise studies involving 1,687 people, about 10 percent of the subjects worsened on at least one of the measures related to heart disease, and about 7 percent worsened on at least two measures. Dr. Bouchard, the lead author, first discovered the adverse exercise effects when he looked at data from his study that examined genetics and responses to exercise, the New York Times reports. He noticed that about 8 percent of subjects seemed to be getting worse on at least one measure of heart disease risk.
Is it possible that exercise is unhealthy for some people? The study authors say that while people should continue to exercise, they might also have their heart disease risk factors checked on a regular basis.
The article is a new publication resulting from the HERITAGE Family Study consortium, a research group that included the University of Minnesota and was led at this institution by Dr. Leon. To read the complete article, go to this link:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0037887