• Holger Cramer, Meral Sushila Thoms, Dennis Anheyer, Romy Lauche, and Gustav Dobos.
• Department of Internal and Integrative Medicine, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, University Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM), University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016 Sep 30; 113 (39): 645652645-652.

BackgroundAbdominal obesity is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of yoga on waist circumference and other anthropometric and self-reported variables in women with abdominal obesity.Methods60 women with abdominal obesity (waist circumference ≥ 88 cm; body-mass index [BMI] ≥ 25) were randomly allocated in a 2:1 ratio to either a 12-week yoga intervention (n = 40) or a waiting list (n = 20). The waist circumference was the primary endpoint. Secondary (exploratory) endpoints included the waist/hip ratio, body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, body muscle mass percentage, blood pressure, health-related quality of life, self-esteem, subjective stress, body awareness, and body responsiveness, and the safety of the intervention. The persons assessing the outcomes were blinded to the group to which the patients belonged.ResultsThe patients in the yoga group participated in a mean of 30.2±9.2 (maximum, 42) hours of supervised yoga practice. Their abdominal circum - ference was significantly reduced in comparison to the participants on the waiting list, with an intergroup difference of -3.8 cm (95% confidence interval [-6.1; -1,.5]; p = 0.001). There were further, moderate intergroup differences in the waist/hip ratio, body weight, BMI, body fat percentage, body muscle mass percentage, mental and physical well-being, self-esteem, subjective stress, body awareness, and trust in bodily sensations (all p<0.05). There were no serious adverse events. None of the participants embarked on a low-calorie diet while participating in the study.ConclusionThe 12-week yoga intervention had moderately strong positive effects on anthropometric and self-reported variables in women with abdominal obesity. Yoga is safe in this population and can be recommended as a technique for combating abdominal obesity in women.

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