A recent study showed the dose-response effects of aerobic exercise with adiposity measures in adults with overweight or obesity. The findings reinforce current guidelines that 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity or greater aerobic exercise may be needed to accomplish clinically important reductions in waist circumference and measures of body fat, according to findings from a meta-analysis reported in JAMA Network Open.

“Current guidance on the duration of aerobic exercise recommended in existing guidelines comes primarily from individual trials. Meta-analyses are lacking to examine the dose-response association of aerobic exercise with adiposity measures,” wrote Ahmad Jayedi, PhD, and colleagues.

The review included studies with a duration of at least 8 weeks focused on supervised aerobic training for adults with overweight or obesity. The researchers identified 116 randomized clinical trials involving 6,880 adults who met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. The primary outcomes included measures of body weight, waist circumference, and body fat. For each 30-minute weekly increment of aerobic exercise, there was an associated reduction in mean body weight (−0.52 kg; 95% CI, −0.61 to −0.44 kg), waist circumference (−0.56 cm; 95% CI, −0.67 to −0.45), and body fat percentage (−0.37; 95% CI, −0.43% to − 0.31%). The researchers also observed reductions in mean visceral (−1.60 cm2 ; 95% CI, −2.12 to −1.07) and subcutaneous (−1.37 cm2 ; 95% CI, −1.82 to −0.92) adipose tissues.

The findings suggested a linear reduction in body weight and waist circumference associated with increasing the duration of aerobic exercise to 300 minutes per week. The degree of weight loss was −2.79 kg at 150 minutes per week and −4.19 kg at 300 minutes per week. The degree of reduction in waist circumference was −4.21 cm at 300 minutes per week of aerobic exercise at moderate intensity and −5.34 cm at 300 minutes per week of aerobic exercise at moderate to vigorous intensity.

“This dose-response meta-analysis of 116 randomized clinical trials presented evidence of moderate to high certainty that aerobic exercise may be associated with clinically important reductions in waist circumference and measures of body fat, including body fat percentage, fat mass, and visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue areas,” the researchers concluded. “The results…suggested that longer durations of aerobic exercise may be associated with more beneficial weight or waist circumference outcomes.”