Tai chi ‘effective approach’ in reducing belly fat in older adults
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Tai chi was comparable to conventional exercise in reducing waist circumferences in a cohort of older adults with central obesity, according to results of a randomized clinical trial.
More than 2 million Americans practice tai chi, a form of exercise that is often described as “meditation in motion,” study co-author Parco M. Siu, PhD, FRSB, FACSM, FECSS, FHKASMSS, an associate professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, told Healio Primary Care.
“While it is known to be a suitable activity for older people, including those who are not active, there previously has been little evidence on tai chi’s health benefits,” he said.
To fill in this knowledge gap, Siu and colleagues randomly assigned 543 older adults from a single research site in Hong Kong in a 1:1:1 ratio to either perform no exercise (control cohort), aerobic exercise and strength training (EX cohort) or tai chi (TC cohort) for 12 weeks. The majority of the participants were women (n = 423) aged between 55 and 69 years. Participants’ levels of central obesity (waist circumference [WC]), body weight, BMI, HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting plasma glucose and BP levels were measured at baseline, week 12 and week 38. The researchers also evaluated participants for central obesity remission.
Siu and colleagues reported in Annals of Internal Medicine that 30% of the trial participants were lost to follow-up during the study. Of those who remained, the adjusted mean difference in WC from baseline to week 12 in the control group was 0.8 cm (95% CI, –4.1 to 5.7 cm). Both intervention cohorts showed reductions in WC compared with control (adjusted mean differences = TC group vs. control, –1.8 cm [95% CI, –2.3 to –1.4 cm]; EX group vs. control, –1.3 cm [95% CI, –1.8 to –0.9 cm]).
Relative to the control group, the TC and EX groups exhibited decreases in body weight (P < .05). “Favorable changes” in WC and body weight were sustained at week 38, according to the researchers.
In addition, Siu and colleagues observed reductions in triglyceride levels in the TC and EX groups. Both groups also experienced an attenuation in HDL cholesterol reduction; only the TC group had sustained this effect at week 38.
“Both tai chi and conventional exercise interventions impeded the decrease in the level of HDL cholesterol, or so-called good cholesterol, observed in the control group of participants who received no intervention,” Siu said. “This suggests the favorable effect of tai chi or conventional exercise on maintaining HDL cholesterol level.”
No adverse events were reported, according to Siu and colleagues.
The researchers added that even though physical activity and diet are “critical to the success of management of central obesity,” they did not keep track of participants’ eating habits because the “focus was to compare the efficacy of tai chi versus conventional exercise relative to no intervention.”
Those limitations notwithstanding, “our randomized controlled trial found that tai chi is about as effective as conventional exercise for reducing waist circumference in middle-aged and older adults with central obesity,” Siu said in the interview.
“Tai chi can be an effective alternative to conventional exercise in the management of central obesity,” he said. “This is good news for middle-aged and older adults who have central obesity but may be averse to conventional exercise due to preference or limited mobility.”
Editor’s note: The article was updated to clarify that tai chi and strength training were associated with an attenuation of decreases in HDL cholesterol.