Summary: In men with abdominal obesity, adding a high-protein, low-glycaemic-index diet to aerobic-resistance training reduced IL-6 and hs-CRP, raised adiponectin, and improved insulin sensitivity and visceral fat more than exercise alone over a short supervised intervention.
PICO Summary
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Population | 44 men (mean age 34.7 ± 5.5), abdominal obesity (BMI 32.0 ± 3.9, waist 110.3 ± 8.5 cm). |
| Intervention | Aerobic-resistance training plus ad libitum high-protein, low-GI diet (EDG, n=16). |
| Comparison | Exercise only (EG, n=16) and no-intervention control (CG, n=12). |
| Outcome | Combined arm: IL-6 -48%, hs-CRP -30%, adiponectin +15% (p=0.02), improved FG/I (p=0.02) and Castelli II (p=0.01), with reduced visceral and total fat and increased fat-free mass (p<0.01). Larger than exercise alone. |
Diet plus exercise vs exercise alone in abdominal obesity
RCT · men with abdominal obesity · short supervised intervention
Adding a high-protein, low-GI diet to aerobic-resistance training cut IL-6 and hs-CRP and raised adiponectin more than exercise alone, with better body recomposition. Surrogate markers only, no hard outcomes.
Expert Commentary
That diet plus exercise beats exercise alone is hardly a surprise, and I will admit my first reaction was that this trial confirms the obvious. What earns my attention on a closer read is the cleanliness of the demonstration: a three-arm design that isolates the added value of nutrition, and an ad libitum high-protein, low-GI pattern rather than rigid calorie counting, which is far closer to what I can actually ask a patient to sustain. The body-recomposition signal, fat down and fat-free mass up, is more meaningful to me than weight alone, and the adipokine and inflammatory shifts fit a coherent mechanism. My caution is the usual one for this kind of study: small numbers, young men only, short duration, and surrogate biomarkers rather than events, so I cannot promise a patient this prevents a heart attack. Can I use this with my patients? Yes, and easily, because it sharpens advice I already give: pair resistance and aerobic training with a higher-protein, lower-GI, higher-fibre diet rather than leaning on exercise alone. I would just keep the framing honest, that this improves the metabolic profile, with hard-outcome benefit inferred from the wider evidence rather than proven here.
References
Makiel K, Targosz A, Kosowski P, Suder A. Effects of aerobic-resistance training and nutritional intervention on adiponectin, interleukin-6, and hs-CRP concentrations in men with abdominal obesity: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Mol Sci. 2025;26(19):9500. doi:10.3390/ijms26199500