[Muscular strength training does not increase human adults' arterial stiffness or improve body toning]. / O treinamento de força muscular não aumenta a rigidez arterial em adultos humanos e melhora a composição corporal.

OBJECT: Determining the influence of three weekly strength training (ST) sessions, over a ten-week period, on arterial stiffness (AS) and taking the associated anthropometric measurements. METHODS: This was a before-and-after intervention trial, involving a sample of 17 individuals. Participants were adults from both genders aged 18 and 40 years-old who had been sedentary for at least three months previously. Anthropometric measurements were taken, together with pulse wave velocity (PWV) before and immediately after the experimental sessions. RESULTS: Independent variables (age and gender) were considered for determining their influence on final PWV and anthropometric measurements. Comparing initial PWV (mean=9.00) with final PWV (mean=9.00) for subjects involved in the proposed ST revealed no significant difference between them (p=0.469). Regarding anthropometric measurement, individuals' body fat (p<0.001) and body fat mass percentages (p<0.001) became significantly reduced, accompanied by an increase in lean mass (p<0.001). However, no changes were recorded regarding waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (p= 0.777), body mass (p=0.226) or body mass index (BMI) (p =0.212). CONCLUSION: This study's findings suggested that the proposed ST did not increase AS. Devotees of such type of training may therefore safely enjoy all its benefits without risk to the cardiovascular system. Further controlled and randomized research is needed to confirm these results.

Effect of diet intervention and oral zinc supplementation on metabolic control in Berardinelli-Seip syndrome.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Berardinelli-Seip syndrome (BSS), also termed congenital generalized lipodystrophy or congenital generalized lipoatropic diabetes, is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by the nearly complete absence of metabolically active adipose tissue from birth, extreme insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, and hepatomegaly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of diet intervention and oral zinc supplementation on the metabolic control of BSS patients. METHODS: During a 3-month period, 10 BSS patients received individualized diets and oral zinc supplementation. Food intake, clinical laboratory parameters, serum zinc and leptin, and plasma C-peptide concentrations were evaluated at the beginning of the study and after 3 months. RESULTS: At the beginning of the study, all patients had elevated energy, protein, total fat, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, and zinc intakes. After 3 months, all of these parameters had decreased. Total fiber intakes remained low before and after diet intervention and oral zinc supplementation, and plasma levels of fasting glucose remained high. In contrast, glycated hemoglobin decreased significantly. Plasma leptin, C-peptide, and serum zinc levels increased during venous zinc tolerance testing, but there were no significant differences between the 2 curves obtained before and after diet intervention and oral zinc supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Diet intervention and oral zinc supplementation were effective at controlling energy consumption, macronutrients, and glycated hemoglobin. Zinc likely acts as an adjunct therapy, thereby improving the effectiveness of leptin.