NEW YORK, Aug 09 (Reuters Health) - Certain obese men can increase their levels of "good" cholesterol through regular extended endurance exercise, according to new study findings.

The study results are encouraging because men of normal weight and low triglyceride levels (a type of fat associated with heart disease) and low levels of "good" (HDL) cholesterol may find it difficult to increase their levels of HDL cholesterol. Low HDL levels can increase the chances of heart disease.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres from Laval University Medical Research Center in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, Canada and associates studied 200 men who exercised for 50 minutes a day, approximately three times per week. The men were divided into four groups based on triglyceride and HDL levels.

According to the results, published in the July issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association, all four groups experienced small reductions in body fat during the training period, with the greatest losses seen in men with high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol.

Men whose only abnormality was a low HDL level showed no improvement in their HDL levels, the researchers report. However, men with high triglycerides and low HDL showed modest (about 5%) improvements in their HDL levels.

"This should not, however, discourage clinicians from prescribing aerobic exercise, which is likely to have a variety of cardiovascular benefits beyond its effects on HDL cholesterol," Dr. Paul Thompson from Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and Dr. Daniel Rader from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, write in a related editorial.

SOURCE: Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 2001;21:1226-1232, 1097-1098.

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