RESPIRATORY-CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM OF OBESE MEN RELATED TO VO<SUB>2max</SUB> AND BODY COMPOSITION / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

In order to investigate an effect of the excess fat of obese men on the respiratory-cardiovascular system, VO<SUB>2</SUB>max was measured for seven obese, 16 ordinary and seven lean men. All subjects were university students, ages 18 to 25 years. Body composition was determined by densitometry. Furthermore, six non-obese young men participated in an added-weight experiment so as to estimate an effect of the excess fat of obesity. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the absolute values of VO<SUB>2</SUB>max, VEmax, and HRmax among the groups. Concerning the relative value of VO<SUB>2</SUB>max to body weight, the obese group showed a significantly lower value of 40.4 ml/kg-min than the lean and ordinary group values of 51.5 and 48.8 ml/kg-min, respectively. However, no significant difference was found between the relative values of VO<SUB>2</SUB>max per lean body mass of any of the groups. VO<SUB>2</SUB>max for the obese group was 54.0 ml/kg-min, 56.0 for the lean group and 57.7 for the ordinary group. Such trends were very similar to the results of the added-weight experiment. Based on the values for the subjects in this study, this leads to the conclusion that the excess fat of obese men might act only as an inactive load and might not affect the ability of the respiratory-cardiovascular system. Besides, the threshold of obesity for men proposed by Behnke and Wilmore might be reasonable from the viewpoint of the absolute and the relative values of VO<SUB>2</SUB>max.