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.

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.”

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.”

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.