Comparison of Innate Immunity Activation Markers in Veteran Athletes and Sedentary Counterparts

This research aims to identify blood markers of innate immunity that distinguish individuals who are vateran athletes from age, sex and weight matched sedentary folks. Identification of such markers could help explain the mechanisms behind the observed health benefits of such exercise (typically a decrease of heart disease and diabetes). The mechanisms behind these disorders are being rethought in biomedical research as being partially driven by levels of innate immunity. Identification of such innate immunity markers would allow their use (in future studies) to determine how much exercise sedentary individuals should undertake to gain health benefits.