Concentric and eccentric exercise, glycemic responses to a postexercise meal, and inflammation in women with high versus low waist circumference

Abstract

Carbohydrate ingestion and level of concentric versus eccentric muscle activity may alter exercise-induced health benefits for individuals who have high waist circumference as a metabolic risk factor. The purpose of this study was to determine whether metabolic and inflammation responses to an exercise recovery meal differ between women with lower (Lo-WC, <80 cm) compared with higher (Hi-WC) waist circumference when the exercise is primarily concentric (uphill walking; UPHILL) versus primarily eccentric (downhill walking; DOWNHILL). Recreationally active women (age, 18–39 years; body mass index, 19–35.4 m·kg−2; Lo-WC, n = 13; Hi-WC, n = 10) completed UPHILL, DOWNHILL, and resting (CONTROL) conditions followed 30 min later by a mixed meal tolerance test (MMTT) with carbohydrates to protein ratio of 4:1, and blood glucose, insulin, and inflammation markers were compared across conditions. Compared with Lo-WC, the Hi-WC group had higher (p < 0.05) (i) insulin during the MMTT in CONTROL (mean ± SE; 48.5 ± 8.2 vs 22.9 ± 2.8 pmol·L−1), (ii) baseline (0.7 ± 0.4 vs 2.0 ± 1.7 pg·mL−1) interleukin-6 (IL-6), and (iii) IL-6 responses 8 h after UPHILL and CONTROL. Both groups had (i) increases in IL-6 at 0 h after UPHILL and at 8 h after DOWNHILL, and (ii) lower glycemic responses in UPHILL. Women with Hi-WC had higher IL-6 at rest and delayed increases in IL-6 after a high-carbohydrate meal in all conditions. This is consistent with an inflammation response to the meal and or uphill walking exercise. However, both concentrically and eccentrically biased exercises offered benefits to insulin responses to a high carbohydrate meal for Hi-WC.