Increased physical activity is related to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, possibly because it leads to improvement in the lipoprotein profile. However, the amount of exercise training required for optimal benefit is unknown. In a prospective, randomized study, we investigated the effects of the amount and intensity of exercise on lipoproteins.

A total of 111 sedentary, overweight men and women with mild-to-moderate dyslipidemia were randomly assigned to participate for six months in a control group or for approximately eight months in one of three exercise groups: high-amount–high-intensity exercise, the caloric equivalent of jogging 20 mi (32.0 km) per week at 65 to 80 percent of peak oxygen consumption; low-amount–high-intensity exercise, the equivalent of jogging 12 mi (19.2 km) per week at 65 to 80 percent of peak oxygen consumption; or low-amount–moderate-intensity exercise, the equivalent of walking 12 mi per week at 40 to 55 percent of peak oxygen consumption. Subjects were encouraged to maintain their base-line body weight. The 84 subjects who complied with these guidelines served as the basis for the main analysis. Detailed lipoprotein profiling was performed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with verification by measurement of cholesterol in lipoprotein subfractions.

There was a beneficial effect of exercise on a variety of lipid and lipoprotein variables, seen most clearly with the high amount of high-intensity exercise. The high amount of exercise resulted in greater improvements than did the lower amounts of exercise (in 10 of 11 lipoprotein variables) and was always superior to the control condition (11 of 11 variables). Both lower-amount exercise groups always had better responses than the control group (22 of 22 comparisons).

The highest amount of weekly exercise, with minimal weight change, had widespread beneficial effects on the lipoprotein profile. The improvements were related to the amount of activity and not to the intensity of exercise or improvement in fitness.