INTERVAL HIGH INTENSITY OR CONTINUOUS AEROBIC TRAINING FOR BODY FAT REDUCTION IN OVERWEIGHT ADULTS? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW WITH META-ANALYSIS.

Introduction: Obesity has been one of the biggest public health problems. Physical exercise is one of the answers in favor of weight loss. However, the discussion is on the type of training, volume and intensity that is most appropriate. Objective: To compare the effectiveness of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous aerobic training (CAT) on body fat changes in overweight and obese individuals, assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorption (DEXA) . Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published until February 2021, involving adults (≥ 18 years of age) with overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2) were included. The search was performed in MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science and LILACS. Random effect was adopted for the analyses, as well as RoB2 for bias analysis and GRADE for strength of evidence.