We all know exercise is good for you, but we don’t always ask why. While the benefits of exercise are numerous, one of the major reasons you may want to increase your activity level is to slow the development of heart disease! By now there are countless articles dedicated to showing benefits of exercise on the cardiovascular system, but one of the most interesting findings is that the intensity of exercise needed isn’t high. Studies have shown that even simple changes, such as increases in physical activity, through change in occupation or recreational activities, are associated with decreased rates of cardiovascular-related mortality.
Assessing Your Cardiovascular Risk
It is, of course, comforting to know that any increase in activity level is beneficial but, sometimes we want to know just how much benefit we are getting. One way to assess someone’s cardiovascular risk is to measure certain markers in your blood. Measuring blood markers to assess risk is useful for anyone but, it is particularly important for people who already have numerous risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as:
- Smoking
- Poor blood sugar control
- High inflammation
- Poor diet
- Obesity
- Inactive lifestyle
One of the favoured ways medical professionals approximate your cardiovascular risk is by measuring your blood lipids/cholesterol. The problem with this is, despite a growing body of evidence, the markers that are routinely ran are usually LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides and total-cholesterol. While these markers have their place, they aren’t the most accurate way to determine your risk of cardiovascular disease. This is why many of the major Canadian guideline groups are proposing that we start incorporating apolipoprotein B100 (apo B) into our standard screening for CVD.
Apo B, relative to the other lipid/cholesterol markers, has proven to be a much better predictor of cardiovascular disease. It is also a better tool for monitoring a person’s response to a therapy (such as drug therapy), in regards to actual risk reduction. In other words, when apo b goes down, so does your risk of heart attack and stroke. Other markers, such as LDL cholesterol, may go down but this doesn’t always mean your risk went down too.
For example, one study showed that increasing your exercise resulted in reduced rates of cardiovascular-related deaths. When they measured the blood, they found that LDL-C stayed the same but, apo B went down. Studies such as these demonstrate that apo b is a better reflection of actual risk than the other lipid markers.
Exercise and Risk Reduction
This then begs the question, does exercise affect apo b levels? The short answer is- yes.
One study, using type 2 diabetic patients, found that only 3 months of resistance training, 3x/week, brought patient’s apo b levels down from the high-risk category to the low-risk category. In this study, not only did the apo b go down, the patients also had improved blood sugar control and blood pressure – 2 other major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Another, study showed that 110 and 116 minutes of exercise per week, for 1 year, could drop your apo b by 4%. While this may not seem like much, this risk reduction happened with only changes in exercise. Imagine if you also worked on your diet, blood sugar control and intervened with supplements and/or drug therapy. Furthermore, if you are to stick to your exercise regime more long term, studies have shown that regular exercise can reduce apolipoprotein B by up to 20%!
As you would expect, these reduced apo b levels mean lower rates of cardiovascular related deaths… but by how much?
Research has shown that being physically active was associated with a 35% risk reduction for CVD mortality and a 33% risk reduction for all-cause mortality. This means 35% less chance of dying from: heart attack, stroke and heart failure!
In the hopes of keeping this post short and sweet, I will resist the urge to tell you about all of the other tremendous health benefits of exercise (you bet they are going in future post, though!). The take away message of this article is that exercise, no matter how small, will benefit your cardiovascular system. If you would like to monitor how well you’re responding to your new routine, there are certain labs you can have your doctor run (apo B) that will tell you if your risk of heart attack and stroke goes down.
If you would like to get started on your journey to a healthy heart you can book your free ‘Meet and Greet’ and see if naturopathic medicine is a good fit for you! For booking please either call 604-685-1181 or head to my contact page and click ‘Book Now’.
Disclaimer
Information can be empowering, but we all have unique health profiles and needs. The health-related information contained in this article is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for a visit with a licensed naturopathic doctor. The advice in this article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
References
1) Holme, I., Høstmark, A. T., & Anderssen, S. A. (2007). ApoB but not LDL‐cholesterol is reduced by exercise training in overweight healthy men. Results from the 1‐year randomized Oslo Diet and Exercise Study. Journal of internal medicine, 262(2), 235-243.
2) Ben Ounis, O., Elloumi, M., Makni, E., Zouhal, H., Amri, M., Tabka, Z., & Lac, G. (2010). Exercise improves the ApoB/ApoA‐I ratio, a marker of the metabolic syndrome in obese children. Acta Paediatrica, 99(11), 1679-1685.
3) Kadoglou, N. P., Fotiadis, G., Athanasiadou, Z., Vitta, I., Lampropoulos, S., & Vrabas, I. S. (2012). The effects of resistance training on ApoB/ApoA-I ratio, Lp (a) and inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes. Endocrine, 42(3), 561-569.
4) Ahmed, H. M., Blaha, M. J., Nasir, K., Rivera, J. J., & Blumenthal, R. S. (2012). Effects of physical activity on cardiovascular disease. The American journal of cardiology, 109(2), 288-295.
5) Barter, P. J., Ballantyne, C. M., Carmena, R., Cabezas, M. C., Chapman, M. J., Couture, P., … & Furberg, C. D. (2006). Apo B versus cholesterol in estimating cardiovascular risk and in guiding therapy: report of the thirty‐person/ten‐country panel. Journal of internal medicine, 259(3), 247-258.
6) Schuler, G., Adams, V., & Goto, Y. (2013). Role of exercise in the prevention of cardiovascular disease: results, mechanisms, and new perspectives. European heart journal, 34(24), 1790-1799.
7) Benn, M. (2009). Apolipoprotein B levels, APOB alleles, and risk of ischemic cardiovascular disease in the general population, a review. Atherosclerosis, 206(1), 17-30.
8) Walldius, G., Aastveit, A. H., & Jungner, I. (2006). Stroke mortality and the apoB/apoA‐I ratio: results of the AMORIS prospective study. Journal of internal medicine, 259(3), 259-266.