Objective: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of walking program on BMD in order to prevent bone loss among sedentary obese and thin women.
Material and methods: Forty untrained obese (n=20) and thin (n=20) women, 20-25 years, volunteered to participate in this study, then the participants were pairwise BMI-matched and randomly assigned to two study (obese=10, thin=10) and two control (obese=10, thin=10) groups. Before and after the training program both groups had anthropometric measurements, blood analysis. Bone mass density was also evaluated by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Each walking session was 30 min walking between 50-75% of maximal age adjusted heart rate, 3 days per week for 2 months.
Results: After 2 months, exercise groups had no effect assignment on BMD at weight-bearing sites in the spin (L2– L4) and hip(p>0.05).However exercise groups experienced slightly increased in BMD at both regions, while the control groups did not. Also no significant change was observed at blood samples in either group (p>0.05). Percent body fat, fat mass and lean mass were affected positively by exercise program compared with control groups (all p=0.000).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that walking exercise may have reduced the risk of bone loss in young women. However further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy of walking exercise on bone quality and the risk of bone loss as an exercise-related effect in different obese and thin groups.