Clinical trial NCT02110927: Microcurrent and Aerobic Exercise Effects in Abdominal Fat
Official title: Microcurrent and Aerobic Exercise Effects in Glycerol, Catecholamines, Energetic Source and Muscle Activity
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Obesity, Abdominal
Keywords: Abdominal fat
Metabolic syndrome
Microcurrent
Aerobic exercise
Lipolysis
Lead sponsor: Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2014-04-10
Enrollment: 100
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 30
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The purpose of this study was to analyze microcurrent short term effects used with aerobic exercise on abdominal fat.

Detailed description: Nutritional patterns have been changed during twenty-first century with sugar and fat's high proportions that allied to sedentary lifestyle increased body fat. There is already a well establish relationship between total body fat excess, cardiometabolic diseases and increased mortality, knowing that abdominal fat (android pattern), different from body index, presents an additional influence to health risks. Women with their abdominal adipocytes (visceral fat) show an increased lipolytic activity that releases free fat acids to the systemic and portal circulation leading to a metabolic syndrome, increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Aerobic exercise is a way to decrease fat as it stimulates lipolysis through an increase in catecholamine's level resulting from a sympathetic system nervous activity raise. The most used exercise for lipid elimination is the prolonged aerobic moderate exercise with a minimum of 30 minutes.

Nevertheless aerobic exercise practice reduce globally lipidic sources and not locally .

Electrolipolysis using microcurrent has been used in clinical practice as a technique to reduce abdominal fat. This technique can be applied transcutaneously or percutaneously seeming that the former is not so effective as skin can be an obstacle to the current effect on visceral and subcutaneous fat .

Abdominal fat excess is associated with cardiometabolic diseases and can be prevented using microcurrent and aerobic exercise to stimulate lipolysis.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* age between 18 and 30 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

* submitted to other fat reduce procedure, to show cardiovascular risk factors or diseases and/or any physical condition limiting aerobic exercise. To present any contraindications to microcurrent and/or aerobic exercise, to take medication that influence lipid metabolism, and to be pregnant.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in catecholamines and glycerol concentrations
timeFrame: 10 minutes before the interventions, after interventions (duration of interventions - 90 minutes) and after 24 hours
measure: Change in proportion of energy source
timeFrame: Immediately before (for 3 minutes) and during exercise (duration of exercise - 50 minutes)
measure: Change in electromyographic activity
timeFrame: 5 minutes before and after microcurrent
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Subcutaneous abdominal fat and visceral abdominal fat
timeFrame: 20 minutes before the interventions
measure: Suprailiac, vertical and horizontal abdominal skinfolds
timeFrame: 20 minutes before the interventions
measure: Perimeters measurements
timeFrame: 20 minutes before the interventions
measure: Change in cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose concentrations
timeFrame: 10 minutes before the interventions, after interventions (duration of interventions - 90 minutes)
Other outcomes:
measure: International Physical Activity Questionnaire
timeFrame: 30 minutes before the interventions
measure: Food Frequency Questionnaire
timeFrame: 30 minutes before the interventions
measure: Bioimpedance values
timeFrame: 30 minutes before the interventions
Locations:
city: Vila Nova de Gaia
country: Portugal
facility: Andreia Noites
state: Porto
Study officials:
affiliation: Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto
name: Andreia Noites, MSc
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto
name: Rui Vilarinho, BSc
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Ahmadian M, Wang Y, Sul HS. Lipolysis in adipocytes. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2010 May;42(5):555-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2009.12.009. Epub 2009 Dec 16.
citation: Despres JP, Lemieux I. Abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome. Nature. 2006 Dec 14;444(7121):881-7. doi: 10.1038/nature05488.
citation: Bulow J, Gjeraa K, Enevoldsen LH, Simonsen L. Lipid mobilization from human abdominal, subcutaneous adipose tissue is independent of sex during steady-state exercise. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2006 Jul;26(4):205-11. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-097X.2006.00664.x.