(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Superior size and strength can mean championships, scholarships and million-dollar paydays for today's athletes. But a comparison of professional baseball players and football players reveals that the larger professional athletes -- specifically football linemen -- are at greatly increased risk of cardiometabolic syndrome. These findings come on the heels of media reports suggesting that professional football players are twice as likely to die before age 50 as professional baseball players.
Researchers collected and studied the cardiometabolic syndrome parameters of 69 current professional football players and 155 current professional baseball players. Parameters studied included blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, waist circumference, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, body mass index, waist-to-height ratio, insulin resistance and levels of alanine aminotransferase, an indicator of fatty liver disease.
As a whole, professional football players demonstrated higher fasting glucose levels, increased body mass index, higher waist circumference and higher waist-to-height ratios compared to their baseball counterparts. In particular, among the 19 professional football linemen studied, including guards, tackles, centers and defensive ends, there was a significant increase in these parameters and, as a result, an increased incidence of cardiometabolic syndrome, defined as exhibiting three or more risk factors.
"Most studies that have examined cardiometabolic risks in professional athletes have been conducted after athletes retire," study lead author Dr. Michael Selden was quoted as saying. "This is one of the first to study athletes in the midst of their playing careers. We expect professional athletes to be in peak physical condition given the demands of their jobs and the amount of time they spend exercising heavily. However, there does not seem to be a complete protective effect of exercise, particularly among the larger athletes -- football linemen. Instead, the impact of their sheer size may outweigh the positive benefits of exercise to mitigate their risk for cardiometabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease and insulin resistance."
