Effects of intermittent restriction diet and moderate-intensity exercise on the expression of cardiomyocytes in mice with high-glucose loads

Context: The prevalence of obesity was 8% in 2002 and increased to 11.5% in 2011 in Indonesia. The results of the 2018 Basic Health Research stated that 13.6% of people over the age of 18 were overweight, and 21.8% were obese. Aims: To analyze the effect of intermittent restriction diet and continuous exercise with moderate intensity on individuals exposed to a high-calorie diet. Methods: A randomized posttest control group design was used as the research design, with 6 mice in each group as the study subjects. The groups in this study were the control group with a high-calorie diet (CON+), the intermittent restriction diet group (IRD), the moderate-intensity continuous exercise group (MEX), the combined intermittent restriction diet group and the moderate-intensity continuous exercise (HYB) group. The measured variables were cardiomyocyte diameter and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) expression. Results: The results of this study were cardiomyocyte diameter CON+ (27.94 ± 5.65 µm), IRD (20.99 ± 11.80 µm), MEX (25.08 ± 9.14 µm), HYB (24.52 ± 5.90 µm) with p=0.578. Expression scores of BNP CON+ (6.00 ± 1.50), IRD (4.67 ± 1.00), MEX (5.42±2.09), HYB (6.27 ± 1.54) with p=0.335. These results showed no significant difference, but the intermittent restriction diet showed the most optimal mean with the lowest mean cardiomyocyte diameter and BNP expression. Conclusions: There was no effect between the combination of an intermittent restriction diet and moderate-intensity continuous exercise on cardiomyocyte diameter and BNP expression. However, there is a potential that an intermittent restriction diet has the optimal effect in preventing changes in the cardiac structure.