OBJECTIVE: To examine if healthy borderline overweight postmenopausal women with osteoporosis can improve their waist circumference and lipid profile with a moderate physical training program. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: One hundred and twelve postmenopausal women were randomized to normal sedentary life or one year of physical training consisting of three brisk walks and 1 to 2 aerobic exercises/week. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Waist circumference reduction, waist circumference reduction in relation to observed level of participation in physical intervention and changes in cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoproteins B and A1 and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-CRP). RESULTS: At start the mean (SD) waist circumference was 83.6 (7.7) and 81.8 (7.5) cm in the control and training groups, respectively. In relation to baseline, the 12 months intervention led to a waist reduction of 0.3 cm (2.7) (p = 0.36) and 1.6 cm (4.7) (p = 0.02) in the respective groups but the inter-group comparison was not significant in an intention-to-treat analysis (p = 0.09). The ninety-two women completing the study intervention were analyzed per protocol. A tendency for better waist reduction in relation to the women's observed physical intensity level was observed (p = 0.07, ANOVA for linear trend across training intensity levels). Training women improved their waist circumference 1.7 cm (p = 0.01) compared to baseline and was borderline significantly better than controls (p = 0.059). No significant changes in response to the intervention were observed for blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoproteins and hs-CRP. CONCLUSIONS: A moderate physical exercise program for healthy postmenopausal women during one year reduced the waist circumference in a training intensity dependent manner.

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