Angiotensin-converting enzyme genotype and physical performance during US Army basic training.
Sonna, Larry A., Marilyn A. Sharp, Joseph J. Knapik, Michael Cullivan, Karen C. Angel, John F. Patton, and Craig M. Lilly.
1Thermal and Mountain Medicine Division, and 3Military Performance Division, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick 01760; 2Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115; and 4US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005
APStracts 8:0301A, 2001.
Prior studies have suggested that angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) genotype correlates with superior physical performance in highly selected populations. This study assessed whether such an association exists in a heterogeneous population. Using polymerase chain reaction techniques, we determined the ACE genotypes (insertion/insertion, deletion/insertion, or deletion/deletion) of 62 male and 85 female US Army recruits. Before and after 8 wk of basic training, we determined peak oxygen uptake and performance on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which includes standardized measures of muscular endurance (sit-ups, push-ups) and a 2-mile run. Subjects of different ACE genotypes had similar peak oxygen uptakes and APFT scores, both before and after training. Subjects with genotype II had higher APFT scores than others, but the differences were not statistically significant. Furthermore, no ACE genotype group had a performance advantage in analyses that adjusted for baseline fitness. We conclude that ACE genotype does not have a strong effect on aerobic power or muscular endurance in healthy, young American adults drawn from an ethnically and geographically diverse population.
Received 23 January 2001; accepted in final form 14 May 2001
APS Manuscript Number A62-1.
Article publication pending J Appl Physiol
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 2001 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 18 June 2001