Aims: In traditional medicine, dill (Anethum graveolens) is known as the reducer of glucose, lipid and cholesterol. Physical exercises are also from the main methods of controlling and treating diabetes and hyperlipidemia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of swimming exercises for 6 weeks, hydroalcoholic extracts of Anethum graveolens and their combination on lipid profile of diabetic rats.

Materials & Methods: In this experimental research, 48 Sprague Dawley male rats were randomly chosen and were divided into 4 groups (swimming training, hydroalcoholic extracts of dill, swimming exercises with hydroalcoholic extracts of dill, control), one week after induction of diabetes. Interventions were 6 weeks (5 sessions per week for 30min per session) of swimming exercises and intraperitoneal daily usage of 100mg/kg hydroalcoholic extracts of dill. After that, blood sampling was done from all samples to analyze the lipid profiles. Data was analyzed by dependent T, one way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests.

Findings: Using hydroalcoholic extracts of dill, swimming exercises and their combination for 6 weeks had significant effect on reduction of LDL, VLDL, TG and Cholesterol of diabetic rats (p=0.001). Swimming exercises plus extract usage had more decreasing effect on LDL (p=0.008) and cholesterol (p=0.01) than extract usage alone had. In addition, The combination treatment had more increasing effect on HDL than just extract (p=0.001) and just exercise (p=0.01) had.

Conclusion: Although 6 weeks of swimming exercises and usage of hydroalcoholic extracts of dill improves the lipid profile of diabetic rats, their combination treatment method is more effective.