Exercise Science
Runner on a treadmill
CHIP investigators from UConn’s top-ranked Kinesiology Department have grants in exercise genomics, which involves studying how genetic variations influence the effects of exercise on health outcomes, such as blood pressure, and muscle size and strength.
Other lines of exercise science research at CHIP involve studying statins’ effects on muscle function; exercise as an intervention for hazardous drinking college students, for non-treatment seeking adults with alcohol disorders, and for cocaine abusers; and the use of prize incentives to promote physical activity in HIV-positive substance abusers and weight loss in college students. CHIP researchers from the Kinesiology Department also are comparing the immediate aftereffects of aerobic and ischemic handgrip exercises on blood pressure and vascular function.
CHIP Kinesiology researchers also are studying the role of acute and chronic ingestion of whey protein on the body’s response to resistance training and metabolic and hormonal responses to foods low in carbohydrates. Among the new CHIP exercise science grants received during FY11, one will determine whether the level of fat in milk affects the efficacy of plant sterols in the milk to lower cholesterol.
