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Ms Ramos won 'best new investigator' at the 2015 Sports Medicine Australia Conference for her findings.
Ms Ramos won 'best new investigator' at the 2015 Sports Medicine Australia Conference for her findings.
5 November 2015

A finding that cardio-respiratory fitness is more important than fat loss for people suffering so-called ‘Syndrome X’ has landed a Queensland researcher a New Investigator Award.

, a PhD candidate from The University of Queensland , received the honour from Sports Medicine Australia.

“Our investigation focused on people with metabolic syndrome, also known as ‘Syndrome X’ or insulin-resistance syndrome,” Ms Ramos said.

“The syndrome affects those with a combination of obesity plus any two of the following factors – raised triglycerides, reduced HDL cholesterol, raised blood pressure and raised fasting plasma glucose.

“We found that cardio-respiratory fitness, not body fat, is independently associated with the function of pancreatic beta cells, which produce and secrete insulin, regulating blood glucose level.

“To reduce mortality in this patient group, improving cardio-respiratory fitness should have a higher priority to that of fat loss.”

For her work, with a shortened title of Fitness versus Fatness, Ms Ramos was declared best new investigator at the at Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast.

Co-authors of her study were ¹ú²ú̽»¨ colleagues and , Lance Dalleck of Western State Colorado University and Fabio Borrani of The University of Lausanne.

Ms Ramos was also recently lead author on a in the journal Sports Medicine which determined vascular benefits of high-intensity interval training against moderate-intensity continuous training.

Recognition was given to numerous ¹ú²ú̽»¨ academics at the Sports Medicine Australia Conference. For more information on these achievements, .

Media: Joyce Ramos, mary.ramos@uq.net.au , +61 0406 126 162; Robert Burgin, ¹ú²ú̽»¨ Communications, r.burgin@uq.edu.au, +61 7 3346 3035, +61 448 410 364.