No significant difference was found between yoga and exercise .
Conclusions There is promising evidence of yoga on improving cardio-metabolic health .
Background Yoga , a popular mind-body practice , may produce changes in cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) and metabolic syndrome risk factors .
Effect of a multimodality natural medicine program on carotid atherosclerosis in older subjects: a pilot trial of Maharishi Vedic Medicine.
Although the onset and progression of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) involve multiple risk factors , few intervention studies have attempted to modify these factors simultaneously . This pilot study tested the effect of a multimodality intervention involving dietary , exercise , herbal food supplement , and stress reduction approaches from a traditional system of natural medicine , Maharishi Vedic Medicine ( MVM ) . The primary outcome measure was carotid intima-media thickness ( IMT ) , a noninvasive measure of peripheral atherosclerosis and surrogate measure of coronary atherosclerosis . Comparison groups included modern medicine ( conventional dietary , exercise , and multivitamin approaches ) and usual care ( no added intervention ) . Of 57 healthy seniors ( mean age 74 years ) r and omized to the 3 treatment groups , 46 completed IMT post-testing . Carotid IMT was determined by B-mode ultrasound before and after 1 year of treatment . IMT decreased in a larger fraction of MVM subjects ( 16 of 20 ) than in the modern ( 5 of 9 ) and usual care ( 7 of 14 ) groups combined ( i.e. , 12 of 23 ; odds ratio 3.7 , p = 0.05 ) . For subjects with multiple CHD risk factors ( " high-risk " subjects , n = 15 ) , IMT decreased more in the MVM ( -0.32 + /- 0.23 mm , mean + /- SD ) than in the usual care ( + 0.022 + /- 0.085 ; p = 0.009 ) or modern ( -0.082 + /- 0.095 , p = 0.10 ) groups . Within-group reductions in IMT were significant for all MVM subjects ( -0.15 + /- 0.21 , n = 20 , p = 0.004 ) and for high-risk MVM subjects ( n = 6 , p = 0.01 ) . These results show that this multimodality traditional approach can attenuate  atherosclerosis in older subjects , particularly those with marked CHD risk
No significant difference was found between yoga and exercise .
Conclusions There is promising evidence of yoga on improving cardio-metabolic health .
Background Yoga , a popular mind-body practice , may produce changes in cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) and metabolic syndrome risk factors .