Resistance exercise and postprandial lipemia: The dose effect of differing volumes of acute resistance exercise bouts

Introduction: Resistance exercise has been shown to reduce postprandial lipemia, but no dose-response effect has been established. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether prior resistance exercise exhibited a dose-response effect on postprandial lipemia, while controlling for energy balance. Methods: Subjects were healthy resistance-trained men (n = 4) and women (n = 6) aged 23.4 ± 2.5 years. Subjects participated in 4 different treatment conditions consisting of control (no exercise), 1 set, 3 sets, and 5 sets of 8 resistance exercises in a repeated-measures design. On day 1, each exercise was performed at 75% of the subject's 1-repetition maximum for 10 repetitions. This was followed by consumption of a postexercise meal equal in caloric volume designed to maintain energy balance. On day 2, after a 12-hour overnight fast (approximately 13 hours postexercise) in the General Clinical Research Center, subjects consumed a high-fat meal consisting of 1.7 g fat, 1.65 g carbohydrate, 0.25 g-protein per kilogram of fat-free mass and equal to 95 kJ of energy per kilogram of fat-free mass. Blood collections occurred before meal, and at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 hours after meal consumption and were analyzed for triacylglycerol (TAG), glucose, and insulin concentrations. The lipemic response was evaluated as the area under curve (AUC) for TAG versus time. Glucose and insulin AUCs were also calculated. Results: No significant differences were observed among treatments for postprandial lipemia (mmol/L per 6 hours) as measured by the TAG AUC (control 2.96 ± 0.79, 1 set 2.52 ± 0.60, 3 sets 2.61 ± 0.59, 5 sets 2.45 ± 0.58). Similarly, no differences were observed for insulin or glucose AUC or for insulin sensitivity between treatments. There was a sex effect with TAG AUC significantly lower in women for control, 1 set, and 3 sets. Conclusion: The results of this investigation suggest no dose-response attenuation of the postprandial lipemic response to a high-fat meal after previous resistance exercise.