Effects of capsaicin with or without circuit resistance training on physical fitness, lipid profile and liver enzymes in obese women

Capsaicin (CAP) as an anti-obesity drug plays a role in the treatment of many diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of CAP with or without circuit resistance training (CRT) on physical fitness, lipid profile and liver enzymes in obese women. Forty-four obese female participants ages 24-35 years (M age  = 31.1 years) were randomized into four groups: placebo (PLA), CAP, training+placebo (TRA+PLA), and training+capsaicin (TRA+CAP). The daily CAP supplement was 2.5 mg, administered as two 500 mg red pepper capsules per day for 8 weeks. CRT consisted of 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week and 45-60 min each session. The body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), bench press strength, leg press strength, bench press endurance, leg press endurance, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were analysed pre- and post-training. A significant improvement in all measured variables except WHR in the TRA+CAP group ( ), while in the TRA+PLA group all variables except WHR, AST, ALP, and HDL improved significantly ( ). In the CAP group, only the variables of total cholesterol and LDL had a significant improvement ( ). There were no significant differences between TRA+PLA and TRA+CAP groups in all variables ( ). In conclusion, while CRT was effective in improving women’s health, CAP supplementation showed limited independent efficacy. These findings suggest that CAP may not enhance the effects of CRT.