A nutritious diet is not seen as being as important as physical activity when it comes to college students’ health and wellness efforts, according to Indiana University researchers, even when the students live in an environment that provides classes, cues and motivation to eat healthily. “Personal preferences triumph over discipline,” the researchers note. The researchers examined the eating habits of college students as they transitioned from high school to university life and to living in residence halls or apartments. Habits that college students establish as they leave home may have long-reaching effects on their health and that of their future families, the researchers note. The students, they say, bring to college the eating habits established at home, where most skipped breakfast and almost 40 percent ate out for dinner or were on their own. This “grab and go” view of food and a preference for restaurant-style foods was apparent in the study. Researchers found that regardless of the variety available in the residence hall or the need to prepare meals in apartment living, foods that can require more preparation or are more perishable are eaten less often. The researchers studied three groups of students — students in apartments, students living in a residence hall and students living in a Fitness and Wellness Living-Learning Center, a themed residential community that provides students with an onsite fitness facility and educational material — including a required course on healthy living. Students in all three groups achieved similar levels of physical activity, with around 56 percent meeting the recommended three bouts of exercise weekly. Compared to how they ate at home, the students reported eating the same amount or less of the healthy foods examined. Students in the Living and Learning Center reported eating even less of these healthy foods. The findings suggest that school and college health educators should consider providing students with tools to “internalize that fitness = exercise = healthy food,” and to find ways for them to eat healthy in our grab-and-go world.

Indiana University researchers studied 730 highly active people, ages 20 to 93, to see how their physical and mental quality of life and rates of obesity-related diseases compare to the general population. Their study participants, United States Master Swimmers, reported swimming regularly for an average of 18.6 years. The percentage of Master Swimmers classified as obese (5.4 percent) and the prevalence of obesity-related diseases such as hypertension (6.5 percent), diabetes (1 percent) and coronary artery disease (1.3 percent), was significantly less than the general population. Their measures of physical and mental quality of life also were significantly better than the general public, with the typical decline in physical quality of life occurring later for them — around the age of 55. Jeanne Johnston, assistant professor in IU’s Department of Kinesiology, said research involving physical activity and obesity-related diseases typically begins by looking at sedentary people and uses this population to establish baseline data, rather than examining active people who could represent model behavior. “The low incidence of overweight and obesity as well as the self-reported diseases demonstrates that active engagement in physical activity improves both physical and mental health as well as the diseases people might have,” she said. Examining highly active people, Johnston and her colleagues wrote, might lead to a better understanding of the relationship between lifelong physical activity, successful aging, morbidity and quality of life.

Elderly women can increase muscle strength as much as young women can, a new study from the University of New Hampshire finds, indicating that decline in muscle function is less a natural part of the aging process than due to a decline in physical activity.

The research, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, compared strength gains of inactive elderly women and inactive young women after both groups participated in an eight-week training regime.  Yet while the two groups increased similar percentages of strength, the older group was far less effective in increasing power, which is more closely related to preventing falls.

“Power is more important than strength for recovery from loss of balance or walking ability,” says Dain LaRoche, assistant professor of exercise science at UNH and the lead author of the study.  Preventing falls, which occur in 40 percent of people over 65 and are the top reason for injury-related emergency room visits, is the driving force behind LaRoche’s research agenda.

LaRoche compared the initial strength of 25 young (18 33) and 24 old (65 84) inactive women then had both groups participate in resistance training on a machine that targeted knee extensor muscles, which are critical for walking, stair-climbing, or rising from a chair.  “They’re what let you live on your own,” he says.

After eight weeks of training, the older group not only increased their strength by the same percentage as the younger group, they achieved gained strength similar to a control group of young inactive women.  But the older group’s ability to increase power force over time was significantly less than the younger group’s; the elderly women saw only a ten percent increase in power versus the younger women’s 50 percent increase.

“It’s somewhat troublesome that these older individuals had a reduced capacity to increase performance that’s so closely associated with falls,” says LaRoche.  It seems that the key to muscle power in the elderly is to maintain it over the lifespan rather than try to develop it later in life, he says.

Acknowledging that the type or frequency (six sets, three times per week) of his training protocol may have affected the older group’s ability to make gains in power, LaRoche is continuing to research older women’s capacity to develop muscle power.  As baby boomers age, doubling the over-65 population by 2030, research that supports fall prevention and independent living is a growth area.  “I tell my students, ‘there’s room for you in this field,’” says LaRoche.

Of those 40 percent of elderly people who will fall, research has shown that 20 to 30 percent suffer injuries that reduce mobility, independence and longevity.  Health care cost of a fall injury totals nearly $20,000, and following a hip fracture, life expectancy is just two years.

LaRoche’s own interest in fall prevention in the elderly arose after helping his parents and sister care for his completely sedentary grandmother, helping her stay in her own home until she died at age 93.  She broke both hips, lost six inches of height, and had osteoporosis so severe that a caregiver accidently crushed several of her ribs just helping her out of a chair.

“There’s a gap between life expectancy and quality of life in older age,” LaRoche says.  “We can improve that a lot with physical activity.”

A carefully framed combination of moderate exercise and nutritional supplements could help older people maintain an active lifestyle for longer.

A Manchester Metropolitan University study has found that taking carbohydrate and protein supplements just before and just after low-resistance exercise could boost muscle performance and slow muscle wastage in people over retirement age.

Moreover, this combination appears to deliver greater fitness benefits than undertaking heavy-resistance training with or without changing one’s nutritional habits.

This was the first-ever study of the combination of structured exercise and nutritional supplements to focus wholly on older people.  Undertaken as part of the SPARC (Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity) initiative, the findings will be discussed at this year’s BA Festival of Science in Liverpool on Thursday 11th September.  SPARC is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

This groundbreaking study involved a carefully selected sample of around 60 healthy, independent-living adults aged 65 and over.

The volunteers were randomly divided into groups who underwent different 12 week programmes of physical exercise and nutritional supplementation.  Everyone was then re-assessed at the end of the programme.

Some groups undertook low-resistance exercise once a week; others undertook high-resistance exercise twice a week.  Within each group, some of the volunteers took protein and carbohydrate supplements while others did not.

When all the participants were re-assessed at the end of the 12 week programme, it was observed that muscle size and strength had increased in all groups.

However, the results suggested that older people would derive the most benefits if they took appropriate supplements coupled with low-intensity exercise.

“Maintaining muscle performance and arresting muscle wastage can offer older people real improvements in their quality of life,” says Dr Gladys Pearson, who led the research.  “Though we still need to assess precisely what level of exercise gives the best results, we believe we’ve shown that regular low-resistance exercise complemented by the right nutritional supplements could boost the well-being of the UK’s ageing population.”

Dr Pearson and her team now aim to look at the effectiveness of novel combinations of strength training and nutritional supplementation as a way of speeding recovery and improving mobility for old and young orthopaedic surgery patients.

Individuals who have a genetic mutation associated with high body mass index (BMI) may be able to offset their increased risk for obesity through physical activity, according to a report in the September 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

There is a widely acknowledged genetic component to BMI and obesity, according to background information in the article.  Recently, a strong association has been shown between BMI and variants of one gene, known as the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene.  The mutations associated with obesity are present in about 30 percent of European populations and are associated with a 1.75-kilogram (about 3.9 pounds) increase in body weight.  Lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity are also important contributors to weight gain, but it is unknown exactly how they interact with genetics.

Evadnie Rampersaud, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., then of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and now of the University of Miami, and colleagues analyzed DNA samples of 704 healthy Amish adults (average age 43.6, 53 percent men and 47 percent women) recruited from 2003 to 2007.  Participants also underwent a series of physiological tests, including a seven-day measurement of physical activity using an instrument known as an accelerometer.

A total of 54 percent of the men and 63.7 percent of the women were overweight, and 10.1 percent of the men and 30.5 percent of the women were obese.  In the genetic analysis, 26 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, or changes in a single base letter of DNA) in the FTO gene were associated with BMI.

The researchers then divided participants into two groups based on their physical activity levels and assessed the relationship between BMI and the two strongest SNPs.  Both SNPs were associated with BMI only in individuals who had low physical activity scores for their age and sex; they had no effect on those with above-average physical activity scores.

“Activity levels in the ‘high-activity’ stratum were approximately 900 calories [860 calories for women and 980 calories for men] higher than in the ‘low-activity’ stratum, which, depending on body size, corresponds to about three to four hours of moderately intensive physical activity, such as brisk walking, house cleaning or gardening,” the authors write.

“In conclusion, we have replicated the associations of common SNPs in the FTO gene with increased BMI and risk to obesity in the Old Order Amish,” they conclude.  “Furthermore, we provide quantitative data to show that the weight increase resulting from the presence of these SNPs is much smaller and not statistically significant in subjects who are very physically active.  This finding offers some clues to the mechanism by which FTO influences changes in BMI and may have important implications in targeting personalized lifestyle recommendations to prevent obesity in genetically susceptible individuals.”

An athlete’s ability to sweat may do more than keep the body cool.  It also may prevent the development of exercise-induced asthma (EIA), a common respiratory condition among trained athletes.  New research appearing in the September issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that athletes with EIA produce less sweat, tears, and saliva than those who do not have breathing problems.  Warren Lockette, MD, lead study author and advisor to the University of Michigan’s NCAA Division I women’s swimming team, has worked with many Olympians and future professional athletes with EIA.  “It is unclear why so many elite athletes have exercise-induced asthma,” he said.  “It is possible that they manifest symptoms of exercise-induced asthma simply because their levels of exertion and breathing rate are so high compared with the average, competitive sportsman.” As the head of clinical research at Naval Medical Center San Diego and a former medical officer with the US Navy SEALS, Dr. Lockette also knew that a diagnosis of asthma would preclude many young sailors from becoming Navy divers or special warfare operators.  He teamed up with investigators at Naval Medical Center San Diego to try to understand the mechanisms by which asthma attacks are precipitated during exercise in otherwise healthy individuals.  Lockette and colleagues analyzed the relationship between fluid secretion rates (sweat, saliva, and tears) in 56 athletic subjects suspected of having EIA.  Air movement through the lungs, i.e., the “FEV1,” was measured in otherwise healthy volunteers before and after the administration of methacholine, a drug that can cause airways to constrict in patients with EIA.  Researchers then measured responses to the application of pilocarpine, an agent used to induce sweating and saliva production.  Individuals who were most sensitive to methacholine, i.e., who had the greatest fall in FEV1, were the least sensitive to pilocarpine-induced sweat secretion—meaning, those subjects who had the most hyperreactive airways tended to sweat the least.  Conversely, mean sweating rates were significantly higher among those subjects who were relatively unresponsive to methacholine—the subjects who showed no signs of EIA.  Researchers also found a correlation between the net sweat fluid excretion and net sweat sodium excretion, with sodium excretion rates being higher in subjects who were unresponsive to methacholine compared with those who were responsive.  Additionally, a significant correlation was found between sweat secretion and unstimulated salivary gland flow rates and tear secretion.  “There were many Olympic hopefuls whose competitive chances were potentially limited by exercise-induced asthma,” said Dr. Lockette.  “We found that by controlling air quality during workouts, as well as by providing individualized attention to our athletes’ hydration and nutrition, we could reduce the limitations imposed by hyperreactive airways in many individuals.” Although Dr. Lockette and his team were not able to establish a cause-effect relationship between the increased incidence of EIA and diminished sweat sodium excretion, they speculate that the mechanism responsible for determining sweat volume is the same mechanism responsible for the volume of water secreted by the airways.  As a result, individuals who sweat less also have drier airways.  “It now appears that how much fluid your airways secrete could be a key determinant in protecting you from exercise-induced asthma,” he said.  “So, if athletes sweat, drool, or cry, at least they won’t gasp.” “Exercise-induced asthma may be common among elite or highly trained athletes, but recreational athletes can also suffer from this condition,” said Alvin V. Thomas, Jr., MD, FCCP, and President of the American College of Chest Physicians.  “Otherwise healthy individuals who experience asthma symptoms, such as chest tightness, unusual shortness of breath, or extreme fatigue during exercise, should consult with their physician.”

The workplace, in addition to being a place for making money, has the potential for making a dent in Americans’ struggles with obesity, according to Indiana University researchers. A study led by Whitney E. Hornsby, a graduate student in IU Bloomington’s School of Health Physical Education and Recreation, examined weight and activity levels of 56 people ages 23 to 61 who worked desk jobs. The study found that 80 percent of the employees were overweight or obese, which is higher than the general population, and the employees also reported a lower quality of life than the general population. “Obesity rates have increased while leisure time has stayed the same or increased,” said Jeanne Johnston, assistant professor in the School of HPER’s Department of Kinesiology. “We’re becoming more sedentary in our jobs. As technology improves, it makes it easier or requires us to be closer to our desks.”

• Background: The study, says Johnston, a co-author, is part of the IU researchers’ efforts to use the workplace to stimulate healthier behaviors. She said employee wellness programs typically come in two forms — they make available an on-site fitness facility that typically is rarely used, or they make available health and wellness assessments without the resources to help employees implement the recommended changes. The IU researchers are studying a behavioral change program designed to increase employees’ activity levels to the light and moderate range, rather than launching them into a full-scale workout regimen. “The transition is really important, getting to where people are in their stage of exercise and moving them along the continuum,” Johnston said. “I’m a big believer that we need to help people move from being sedentary to being active, where they can see the results. Then, they might be motivated to join a fitness facility.”

A unique study by Indiana University researchers found that physical activity throughout the day — simply moving — is related to positive feelings, but they found no similar relationship between physical activity and negative moods. “In the study, if people are more active, they tend to report a more positive mood,” said Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU Bloomington’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. “Really low levels of activity are related to lower levels of positive affect.” Physical activity was considered movement beyond resting — not formal exercise. “People often see physical activity as having to be exercise, but it doesn’t have to be exercise,” McCormick said. “Physical activity beyond a resting state does appear to be related to mood.”

• Background: The study is unique because it tracks moment-by-moment physical activity throughout the day and compares it to reports study participants make throughout the day of their activities and feelings. The 25 study participants wore uniaxial accelerometers during waking hours for seven days so their physical activity could be recorded. They also wore wristwatches with preprogrammed alarms that signaled them seven times per day during this period so they could fill out brief reports. If they responded more than 20 minutes after the alarm, their report was disregarded in order to eliminate the ambiguity of “recall.” Most studies involving mood and physical activity rely on recall, and compare it to overall physical activity levels, not moment-by-moment activity. “Most research distinguishes between positive and negative mood,” McCormick said. “In our study, the moment-by-moment activity is related to positive mood — but not related to negative mood state.”

Physical activity and exercise is drawing more attention as a possible way to influence mild depression. “In some ways, it might treat mild depression in that it increases our positive feelings, but it doesn’t necessarily take away our negative feelings,” McCormick said. This study is part of a larger research project involving adults with serious mental illness. McCormick, an associate professor in the School of HPER’s Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies, is collaborating with Georgia Frey, associate professor in the School of HPER’s Department of Kinesiology and lead author of this mood and physical activity study. “The results of this study were modest and based on a relatively small sample,” she said, “but the findings are encouraging.” The study participants represented a general population, not a clinical population.