A new study from the University of Toronto Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) has the potential to change what we know about women's exercise physiology and chronic disease prevention in women.
Funded by one of the largest grants from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) in the Faculty’s history, the study, aptly called Ms. FIT, will measure the impact of following Canada’s physical activity and dietary guidelines on the cardiovascular and metabolic health of women – a historically understudied population.
“The exercises and diet programs being studied are based on Canadian health guidelines that all Canadian adults are recommended to follow to reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer or diabetes,” says Amy Kirkham, an assistant professor at KPE specializing in cardiovascular health, who is co-leading the study with Jenna Gillen, also an assistant professor at KPE, specializing in exercise physiology. “While we know that following these guidelines result in health benefits, a large portion of research has been performed in men.”
“Women are not small men and the menopause transition also affects health outcomes.”
Kirkham explains the heart, vessels, muscles, body composition, storage of fat, and physical activity and dietary intake habits of women can all differ from men. As a result, findings on the efficacy of lifestyle interventions to improve physiology and health in males cannot be directly translated to pre- or post-menopausal women.
“Our KPE study team is unique in that we can measure changes to the health of all of these systems under one roof – in our labs at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport,” says Kirkham.
The researchers say this type of investigation is limited in women and especially limited among postmenopausal women, the stage of life where women’s risk of chronic disease is greatest.
“Our lack of foundational knowledge of the effects of Health Canada’s guidelines on female-specific physiology limits the effective and efficient use of evidence-based approaches to prevent or treat these diseases among women,” says Gillen. “By recruiting equal numbers of both pre and postmenopausal women, our study will, for the first time, allow us to compare the effects of guidelines-based physical activity and diet between these life stages to produce new evidence tailored to women.”
The researchers are currently looking for women to participate in the study, which also includes a sub-study for women who have had breast cancer.
“After surviving breast cancer, women are at increased risk of developing diabetes and dying from cardiovascular disease and are told to follow the same physical activity and diet guidelines as the general public,” says Kirkham. “We are conducting this sub-study to understand the ability of the physical activity and diet guidelines to reduce the risk of heart and metabolic disease among women with a history of breast cancer.”