Effects of exercise and folic acid supplementation on vascular health in middle-aged men and postmenopausal women

Advancing age increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), largely due to the development of systemic vascular endothelial dysfunction and stiffening of the large elastic arteries. This thesis included three studies, which investigated the independent and combined effects of exercise and short-term folic acid (FA) supplementation on cardiovascular responses in healthy middle-aged men (MM) and postmenopausal women (PMW). Young men (YM) and premenopausal women (PreM) were studied under the same experimental conditions to ascertain responses in the healthy arterial system. The methodology included pulse wave analysis, venous occlusion plethysmography and flow mediated dilation (FMD) to assess indexes of aortic wave reflection (AWRi), calf blood flow (CBF) and brachial artery endothelium-dependent vasodilation, respectively. [...]