CONTROLLED COMPARISON OF EFFECTS OF EXERCISE AND ALCOHOL ON BLOOD-PRESSURE AND SERUM HIGH-DENSITY-LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL IN SEDENTARY MALES

1. Seventy‐two sedentary male drinkers, aged 20–45 years, and with mean blood pressure (BP) at entry of 132±1.2/73±0.9 mmHg, completed a 4 week study during which they were assigned randomly to either drink a low alcohol beer (effectively reducing their weekly alcohol intake from 481±47 mL to 52±5 mL) or to continue their normal drinking habits. 2. Within these two groups subjects were further assigned to either a moderate exercise programme of three 30 min sessions per week of stationary cycling at 60–70% maximum workload or to a control light exercise programme where they pedalled against zero or minimal resistance. 3. Both alcohol restriction and moderate exercise were associated with mean falls in bodyweight of 0.5 kg. After adjustment for bodyweight a significant main effect of alcohol restriction on systolic BP (‐4.1±1.7 mmHg, P<0.05) and diastolic BP (‐1.6±0.8 mmHg, P= 0.05) was demonstrated. There was no significant main effect of moderate exercise on systolic or diastolic blood pressure despite a significant improvement in physical fitness (maximal oxygen uptake increasing from 33.2±0.08 mL/kg per min to 35.5±0.1 mL/kg per min). 4. Significant falls in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and triglyceride levels seen with alcohol restriction were unaffected by the increase in fitness, the magnitude of the fall being similar in both the moderate and light exercise groups. 5. We conclude that in male drinkers 4 weeks of moderate exercise has no influence on serum HDLC levels and when combined with alcohol restriction does not lead to a greater fall in BP than that seen with a reduction of alcohol intake alone. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved