Improvements in blood pressure, glucose metabolism, and lipoprotein lipids after aerobic exercise plus weight loss in obese, hypertensive middle-aged men.

The clustering of metabolic abnormalities often associated with hypertension, including insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and dyslipidemia, in middle-aged men may be the result of a decrease in cardiovascular fitness (VO2max) and the accumulation of body fat with aging. This study examines the effects of a 6-month program of aerobic exercise training plus weight loss (AEX+WL) on VO2max, body composition, blood pressure (BP), glucose and insulin responses during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), glucose infusion rates (GIR) during 3-dose hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps at insulin infusion rates of 120, 600, and 3,000 pmol x m(-2) x min(-1), and plasma lipoprotein levels. Compared with eight non-obese, normotensive, sedentary men (age, 62+/-2 years; 19%+/-2% fat; BP, 117+/-4/72+/-2 mm Hg), the nine obese, hypersensitive, sedentary men studied (age, 56+/-1 year; 32%+/-1% body fat; BP, 147+/-3/93+/-2 mm Hg) initially had a larger waist girth and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and were more hyperinsulinemic and insulin resistant with lower GIR at the two lower insulin infusion rates of the clamp and had a 2.