Influence of menopause on body fat induced by aerobic training

ABSTRACT AIMS to compare the influence of menopause on body fat, induced by a physical training program. METHODS Twenty-one sedentary women, 10 postmenopausal (MN; 54.6 ± 5.1 years, 42.9 ± 4.1 % body fat) and 11 in the ovulatory state (OS; 35.1 ± 5.4 years, 44.1 ± 5.5 % body fat), performed a training program with aerobic exercise (12 weeks, five times / week, 60 minutes per session). Before and after this program, the following measurements were taken: sum of skin fold (∑D), body fat percentage (%F), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and abdominal circumference (AC). RESULTS MN and OS significantly reduced ΣD (38.5 ± 25.1 mm and 27.7 ± 19.4 mm, respectively), but without differences between the groups. MN group women obtained relative reduction in the suprailiac fold, significantly greater than OS (25 ± 10 vs. 11.5 ± 12 mm), and also a greater reduction in the %F (13.5 ± 8% vs. 6.6 ± 6%). There were very slight reductions in WHR in both groups (0.009 ± 0.02 and 0.005 ± 0.03 in MN and OS, respectively), as well as AC (reduction of 3.5 ± 3 cm and 3.9 ± 2.9 cm for MN and OS), with no differences between groups. CONCLUSION The postmenopausal women responded to a training program with a greater reduction of body fat, but in only one of four evaluated body composition variables.