Mihaela Jurdana, Nadja Plazar, and Rado Pišot, College of Health Care Izola, Izola, University of Primorska, Slovenia
Insitute of Kinesiology research, Science and research centre Koper, University of Primorska, Slovenia
Abstract
Physical inactivity is the second most significant risk factor for chronic non-infectious contagious
diseases in developed countries. However, conditions have slightly improved in the past few years;
still, only 20 % of the population is being active in a fashion to reduce the probability of
cardiovascular complications. Epidemiological research has confirmed that regular physical activity
and nutrition containing sufficient quantities of folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12, reduce the level of
homocysteine in blood. In our research, we studied the influence of long-lasting inactivity on the level
of homocysteine and folic acid levels in blood. Ten male subjects were resting in horizontal position
for 35 days in a clinical setting. After 35 days of resting we documented a statistically relevant
increase in homocysteine level and decrease of folic acid concentration, despite supervised nutrition.
We can conclude that prolonged physical inactivity is an autonomous, independent risk factor for the
development of cardiovascular diseases.
Keywords: microgravity, physical inactivity, homocysteine, folic acid.
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