The Impact of Exercise Snacking on Body Composition and Cardiovascular Function Indicators in Obese College Students.

Both exercise snacking and moderate-intensity continuous training reduced body weight, BMI, body fat mass, and trunk fat mass in obese college students.

• Both the ES and MICT groups showed reductions in BW, BMI, BFM, and TFM after the 12-week exercise program (p<0.01).
• Sample included 50 male and 50 female college students with BMI ≥28 kg/m², each group subdivided into ES (n=25) and MICT (n=25).
• The MICT group performed 45 min of running at maximal fat-burning intensity each day.
• The ES group conducted two 5 min HIIT sessions and one 30 min aerobic exercise session incorporating HIIT elements daily.

Significant improvements in skeletal muscle mass, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, and serum resistin were observed only in the exercise snacking group.

• Only the ES group showed significant changes in SMM, cfPWV, and serum resistin (p<0.01).
• The MICT group did not show statistically significant changes in these three measures.
• The 12-week exercise program was the intervention duration for both groups.

In obese male students, changes in serum resistin correlated positively with cfPWV and negatively with increase in muscle mass.

• Serum resistin changes correlated positively with cfPWV in obese male students (r=0.67, p<0.01).
• Serum resistin changes correlated negatively with increase in muscle mass in obese male students (r=-0.68, p<0.01).
• Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess these relationships.

In obese female students, changes in serum resistin correlated positively with cfPWV and negatively with increase in muscle mass, with a non-significant trend toward positive correlation with trunk fat mass.

• Serum resistin changes showed a positive correlation with cfPWV in obese female students (r=0.44, p<0.05).
• Serum resistin changes showed a negative correlation with increase in muscle mass in obese female students (r=-0.90, p<0.01).
• Changes in serum resistin tended to show a positive correlation with TFM in obese female students, but this did not reach statistical significance (r=0.35, p=0.09).