Lipid Profile of Gymnasts of the Jordan National Team

This study was carried out to assess the lipid pattern in gymnasts of the Jordan National Team. Twelve athletes represent the National gymnastic team (4 males and 8 females, mean age 18±1 year) were included in this study. The training period for them is not less eight years during which they trained 18 hours weekly at least. A group of healthy males and females matched for age and gender was included as control group (n = 20). No subject had evidences of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and blood pressure .The body mass index (BMI) of the females was significantly (p<0.5) lower than that of the control (22.5±3.21, 18.9±0.9 respectively). It was found that the majority of the males had lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, and great decreasing in LDL cholesterol and significantly (p<0.5) raising in HDL cholesterol, (164.3±19.8, 85.9±34.3, 49.8±6.5, 80.4±30.8 respectively) comparing to the control group (186.6±20.7, 171.6±34.3, 44.5±5.7, 127.2±18.2 respectively). In females a similar fashion of lipid profile was also found with a great reduction in LDL-C level .Our result suggest that gymnastics exercise affect blood cholesterol and other lipids in a positive way, by regulating the metabolism of all lipids in the blood and increasing fat oxidation during training results in an adaptive mechanism for body weight maintenance. Also increasing HDL-C level in males and females gymnasts has protective value against cardiovascular diseases such as ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction by carrying cholesterol from the body’s tissues and remove cholesterol from atheroma within arteries and transport it back to the liver for excretion or re-utilization.