Yoga may benefit people suffering from BP, sugar

According to the researchers, including Rashmi Supriya from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, one year of yoga training decreased pro-inflammatory adipokines - signalling proteins released by fat tissue - and increased an anti-inflammatory adipokine in adults with metabolic syndrome and high-normal blood pressure.

The findings support the beneficial role of yoga in managing metabolic syndrome by favourably modulating adipokines, the researchers mentioned.

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions - increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol - that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

"These findings help to reveal the response of adipokines to long-term yoga exercise, which underpins the importance of regular exercise to human health," said senior author Parco Siu from the University of Hong Kong.

For the study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, researchers investigated the effect of yoga on people suffering from metabolic syndrome with high-normal blood pressure by exploring modulations in pro-inflammatory adipokines (leptin, chemerin, visfatin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 or PAI-1) and an anti-inflammatory adipokine (adiponectin).

Participants in the yoga group underwent a yoga training programme with three one-hour yoga sessions weekly for a year. 

The participants' serum were harvested and assessed for adipokines. Generalised estimating equation (GEE) was used to examine the interaction effect between one-year time (pre vs post) and intervention (control vs yoga). 

GEE analyses revealed significant interaction effects between one-year time and yoga intervention for the decreases in leptin and chemerin and the increase in adiponectin concentration in the serum examined.

Yoga exercise might serve as an effective lifestyle intervention to reduce chronic inflammation and manage aspects of metabolic syndrome, the researchers noted.