This Article is Published by the HKUMED
HKUMED RESEARCHERS REVEAL BENEFITS OF TAI CHI IN REDUCING CENTRAL OBESITY
HKUMed researchers at the School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and collaborators from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have found that Tai Chi mirrors the benefits of conventional exercise in reducing waist circumference of older adults with central (abdominal) obesity. The findings are now published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Tai Chi (officially named T’ai chi ch’üan or Taijiquan) is a centuries-old Chinese martial art and an ancient form of mind-body exercise, often described as the ‘meditation in motion’. In 2020, it was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. As a low-impact and moderate-intensity exercise, Tai Chi is known to be suitable for older adults, including those who are inactive or with limited mobility. However, there has been little rigorous scientific evidence on Tai Chi’s metabolic health benefits in people with central obesity.
Between February 2016 and March 2018, 543 Chinese adults over 50 years of age with central obesity were enrolled and randomly assigned to a regimen of Tai Chi, conventional exercise, or no exercise. Participants in the Tai Chi and conventional exercise groups were required to meet for a one-hour instructor-led workout three times a week for 12 weeks. For the Tai Chi group, the 24-form Yang style, recognised as the most commonly practised style, was adopted. For the conventional exercise group, brisk walking and muscle-strengthening activities such as arm curl and raise, shoulder press, squats and heel raise were performed.
Waist circumference and other indicators of metabolic health of all the participants were measured before the programme began (baseline), week 12, and week 38. It was found that, without any dietary intervention, both the Tai Chi and conventional exercise groups had an average reduction of 1.8 cm and 1.3 cm in waist circumference at week 12 respectively, compared to the control group. The interventions also had a favourable impact on HDL cholesterol, or so-called ‘good cholesterol’. While the HDL cholesterol levels of the control group continued to decline from 1.51 mmol/L to 1.41 mmol/L over time, both the Tai Chi and conventional exercise groups could maintain a higher level of HDL cholesterol at 1.52 mmol/L or above even at week 38. But the study did not show detectable differences in fasting glucose or blood pressure among the three groups.
‘Recent recommendations have suggested that waist circumference (WC) is considered an important factor for risk factors associated with overweight, including Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, partly because Asians generally have a higher body fat percentage than Caucasians of the same age, sex and body mass index (BMI). This was one of the factors that inspired us to identify effective ways of reducing WC to prevent obesity,’ said Dr Parco Siu Ming-fai, Associate Professor and Division Head of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, HKUMed.
‘Our research showed that Tai Chi can be an effective alternative to conventional exercise in the management of central obesity. This is good news for older people with central obesity who may be averse to conventional exercise due to preference or limited mobility. However, further research is needed to reveal how the identified health benefits are achieved through Tai Chi,’ Dr Siu added.