A recent study conducted over 8,700 middle-aged women and men found that the benefits from physical activity on cholesterol are not the same between the sexes. The data published in the Journal of Lipid Research shows that over a 12-year period, women who increased their physical activity by about 180 metabolic units (that is an additional 30 minutes of moderate exercise or an hour of mild exercise a week) saw significant lowering of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, with a rise in HDL cholesterol. The men in the study saw the effects on HDL and triglycerides, but blood test showed no effect on LDL cholesterol.