Weight loss via diet and exercise improves exercise breathing mechanics in obese men.

Background: Obesity alters breathing mechanics during exercise. Weight loss improves lung function at rest, but the effect of weight loss, especially regional fat loss, on exercise breathing mechanics is unclear. We hypothesized that weight loss, especially a decrease in abdominal fat, would improve breathing mechanics during exercise because of an increase in end-expiratory lung volume (EELV).

Fat distribution and end-expiratory lung volume in lean and obese men and women.

Background: Although obesity significantly reduces end-expiratory lung volume (EELV), the relationship between EELV and detailed measures of fat distribution has not been studied in obese men and women. To investigate, EELV and chest wall fat distribution (ie, rib cage, anterior subcutaneous abdominal fat, posterior subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat) were measured in lean men and women (ie, < 25% body fat) and obese men and women (ie, > 30% body fat).

Methods: All subjects underwent pulmonary function testing, hydrostatic weighing, and MRI scans.

Obesity: associations with acute mountain sickness.

Background: Although few retrospective studies of high altitude have reported that obesity might be associated with the development of acute mountain sickness (AMS), this association has not been studied prospectively.

Objective: To determine whether obesity is associated with the development of AMS.

Design: Obese and nonobese men were compared at a simulated altitude of 3658 m (12 000 ft).

Ventilatory response to exercise in aged runners breathing He-O2 or inspired CO2.

The ventilatory response to exercise below ventilatory threshold (VTh) increases with aging, whereas above VTh the ventilatory response declines only slightly. We wondered whether this same ventilatory response would be observed in older runners. We also wondered whether their ventilatory response to exercise while breathing He-O(2) or inspired CO(2) would be different.