Effects of statins and exercise on postprandial lipoproteins in metabolic syndrome vs metabolically healthy individuals

Aims: To determine if the combination of exercise and statin could normalize postprandial triglyceridemia (PPTG) in hypercholesteraemic individuals. Mehods: Eight hypercholesteraemic (blood cholesterol 182±38 mg·dL-1; LDL-c 102±32 mg·dL-1) overweight (BMI 30±4 kg·m-2) individuals with metabolic syndrome (i.e., Met Synd) were compared to a group of eight metabolically healthy controls (i.e., MetH, blood cholesterol 149±23 mg·dL-1; LDL-c 77±23 mg·dL-1, and BMI 23±2 kg·m-2). Each group underwent two PPTG tests, either 14-h after a bout of intense exercise (EXER) or without previous exercise (REST). Additionally, Met Synd individuals were tested 96 h after withdrawal of their habitual statin medication (PLAC trials) to study medication effects. Results: A bout of exercise before the test meal did not reduce PPTG in Met Synd (P=0.347), but reduced PPTG by 46% in MetH (224±142 to 413±267 mg·dL-1·for 5 h iAUC; P=0.02). In both trials (i.e., REST and EXER) statin withdrawal in Met Synd greatly increased PPTG (average 65%; P<0.01), mean LDL-c (average 25%; P<0.01), total cholesterol (average 16%; P<0.01) and Apo B48 (24%; P<0.01), without interference from exercise. However, Apo B100 was not affected by statin withdrawal. Conclusions: Hypercholesteraemic Met Synd individuals (compared to metabolically healthy controls) are resistant to the effects of exercise on reducing PPTG. However, chronic statin medication blunts the elevations in TG after a fat meal (i.e., iAUC of PPTG) reducing their cardiovascular risk associated to their atherogenic dyslipidemia. Statin decreases PPTG by reducing the secretion or accelerating the catabolism of intestinal Apo B48.