Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/32972
Title: Critical Reappraisal of the Role and Importance of Exercise Intervention in the Treatment of Obesity in Adults
Authors: VERBOVEN, Kenneth 
HANSEN, Dominique 
Issue Date: 2021
Publisher: ADIS INT LTD
Source: SPORTS MEDICINE, 51(3), p. 379-389
Abstract: In the treatment of obesity in adults, exercise intervention is recommended and some people with obesity even prefer exercise above dietary intervention as a single weight-loss strategy. However, evidence is accumulating that the long-term body weight and adipose tissue mass loss as a result of exercise intervention in these individuals is disappointingly small. Although this could be related to various clinical reasons, more recent evidence reveals that also (patho)physiological abnormalities are involved which cannot be remediated by exercise intervention, especially in metabolically compromised patients. As a result, the role and importance of exercise intervention in the treatment of obesity deserve significant reconsideration to avoid confusion and disappointment amongst clinicians, patients and society. Hence, to reduce adipose tissue mass and body weight, dietary intervention is much more effective than exercise intervention, and is, therefore, of key importance in this endeavour. However, dietary interventions must be supplemented by exercise training to induce clinically relevant changes in specific cardiovascular or metabolic risk factors like blood pressure, blood triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, as well as visceral adipose tissue mass, physical fitness, muscle mass and strength, quality of life and life expectancy. This allows individuals with obesity to preserve their cardiometabolic health or to shift from a metabolically unhealthy phenotype to a metabolically healthy phenotype. Signifying the true clinical value of exercise interventions might lead to a better understanding and appreciation of the goals and associated effects when implemented in the multidisciplinary treatment of obesity, for which a proper tailoring of exercise prescription is required. Key Points Exercise training allows adults with obesity to shift from a metabolically unhealthy to a metabolically healthy state, regardless of changes in body weight or adipose tissue mass. Targeting metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, muscle strength, endurance capacity and quality of life should become the main aims of exercise intervention in adults with obesity, instead of focussing on body weight and adipose tissue mass changes. Appropriate tailoring of exercise prescriptions in individuals with obesity is imperative but challenging in this endeavour.
Document URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1942/32972
ISSN: 0112-1642
e-ISSN: 1179-2035
DOI: 10.1007/s40279-020-01392-8
ISI #: WOS:000599794900009
Rights: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Category: A1
Type: Journal Contribution
Validations: ecoom 2022
Appears in Collections:Research publications

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