The effect of a 10‑week high‑intensity interval training and ginger consumption on inflammatory indices contributing to atherosclerosis in overweight women

Abstract

Background: Most of the cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by doing regular physical exercises and using herbal supplements. The present study is aimed at assessing ginger supplement and high‑intensity interval training (HIIT) on inflammatory indices contributing to atherosclerosis in overweight women. Materials and Methods: The present study is a randomized, experimental, and controlled one in which thirty healthy overweight women aged 20–30 years were randomly divided into three equal groups, namely, ginger, ginger + HIIT, and placebo + HIIT. The training groups performed high‑intensity interval exercises (i.e. 40‑m maximal shuttle run) for ten consecutive weeks. The supplement groups daily took 3 g of ginger pills and the third group took placebo. Results: Paired t‑test revealed a significant decrease in the density of type 1 monocytes chemo tactic protein (MCP‑1) in HIIT + ginger (P = 0.026) and HIIT + placebo (P = 0.001) groups. Besides, maximum aerobic capacity in the two training groups significantly increased P = 0.002 and P = 0.000, respectively. In spite of this, analysis of variance showed no significant differences in three groups regarding the three indices such as intercellular adhesion molecule‑1 (ICAM‑1) (P = 0.093), MCP‑1(P = 0.075), and serum interleukin‑10 (IL‑10) (P = 0.164). Conclusion: A 10‑week intensive interval exercise, by itself or together with ginger supplement, improved MCP‑1 and maximum oxygen consumption in overweight women, without any significant effect on soluble ICAM‑1 and IL‑10. These findings indicate the relative and efficient role of HIIT in overweight women without the necessity to combine with ginger as an antioxidant/anti‑inflammatory supplement.