Research

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Aerobic exercise training significantly improves body composition, cardiovascular health, and metabolic profiles in patients with metabolic syndrome, with isolated aerobic exercise appearing optimal for reducing fat mass and body mass.

If you have metabolic syndrome, engaging in aerobic exercise for at least 12 weeks is a highly effective strategy to improve your health. You can expect improvements in your weight, waist size, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. You do not necessarily need to combine this with resistance training to see these benefits, as aerobic exercise alone is sufficient and optimal for many of these outcomes. Aim for moderate to high intensity aerobic activity, but consistency over 12+ weeks is key.

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Exercise training improves body composition, cardiovascular, and, metabolic outcomes in people with metabolic syndrome. For some outcome measures, isolated aerobic exercise appears optimal.
Cecilia Ostman et al. · Cardiovascular Diabetology · 2017

Why this rating

Systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials, though with some heterogeneity and publication bias.

Source

The effect of exercise training on clinical outcomes in patients with the metabolic syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cecilia Ostman et al. · Cardiovascular Diabetology · 2017

DOI 10.1186/s12933-017-0590-y

Meta-analysis · 16 studiesCited 238×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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