The Effect of 12 Weeks of HIIT Training and Curcumin Consumption on Leptin and Galanin Levels in Obese Women

Leptin and galanin are hormones involved in appetite and energy balance that play an important role in metabolism regulation and energy balance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the 12 weeks of intense intermittent exercise (HIIT) and curcumin consumption effect on leptin and galanin levels on inactive obese women.

30 obese women were randomly selected from 85 women referring to sports clubs in  the Urmia city with an age range of 30-35 years in the form of a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test and were divided into two groups of 15 Individual HIIT-Placebo and HIIT-Curcumin. The preparation period lasted for three weeks and HIIT training for nine weeks (4 sessions per week). Blood samples were taken in two stages before and 48 hours after the last training session in the follicular phase. Serum leptin and galanin were measured by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed using the Shapiro-Wilk test and analysis of covariance. Significance level was considered 0.05 and data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20.

The results of statistical analysis showed that 12 weeks of HIIT training reduced leptin (p<0.05), galanin (p<0.05), body mass index (p<0.05), and weight (p<0.05) was significantly higher in the HIIT-Curcumin group than in the HIIT-Placebo group.

The results showed that HIIT training combined with curcumin consumption as a non- invasive method can have a positive effect on reducing leptin and galanin levels and obesity-related factors.