Exercise Decreases Insulin Resistance in Elderly

The combination of aerobic and resistance exercise markedly reduced insulin resistance in older patients who had abdominal obesity, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Doing 90 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise combined with 60 minutes of resistance exercise 3 days per week also improved functional limitations, decreased abdominal and visceral fat, increased skeletal muscle mass, and improved cardiorespiratory fitness in these patients, staving off both disease and disability.

“It is difficult to imagine a more effective strategy for improving overall health in the elderly,” said Lance E. Davidson, Ph.D., of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., and his associates.

The researchers conducted what they described as the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of aerobic and resistance exercise, alone and in combination, on insulin resistance in older nondiabetic subjects. The 6-month study involved 117 sedentary, abdominally obese men and women aged 60–80 years.

The study subjects were assigned to do aerobic exercise only, resistance exercise only, a combination of the two, or no exercise (control group). All exercise sessions were done under direct supervision and included heart rate monitoring.

The aerobic exercise group showed an “impressive” (31%) improvement in insulin resistance, comparable to the exercise response reported for younger adults. The drop in insulin resistance was even better (43%) in the aerobic-plus-resistance exercise group, Dr. Davidson and his colleagues said (Arch. Intern. Med. 2009;169:122–31).

Similarly, functional limitations—including the ability to rise from a chair and the number of steps that could be taken within 2 minutes—improved in all the exercise groups; the increase was greatest in the combined exercise group.

Total body fat and abdominal fat decreased with both aerobic exercise alone and aerobic-plus-resistance exercise, but not with resistance exercise alone. Conversely, skeletal muscle mass, as well as the ratio of fat to skeletal muscle mass, improved with resistance exercise and combined exercise but not with aerobic exercise alone.

These findings “lend empirical support to the recently revised public health guidelines for physical activity in older adults endorsed by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine,” the investigators said.

Moreover, since an estimated 62% of elderly women and 74% of elderly men in the United States have abdominal obesity, “it is likely that a sizable proportion of the older adult population would benefit from the exercise modalities studied,” they added.

Aerobic exercise helped decrease both abdominal fat and total body fat, the study found. ©PhotoDisc

The combination of aerobic and resistance exercise markedly reduced insulin resistance in older patients who had abdominal obesity, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Doing 90 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise combined with 60 minutes of resistance exercise 3 days per week also improved functional limitations, decreased abdominal and visceral fat, increased skeletal muscle mass, and improved cardiorespiratory fitness in these patients, staving off both disease and disability.

“It is difficult to imagine a more effective strategy for improving overall health in the elderly,” said Lance E. Davidson, Ph.D., of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., and his associates.

The researchers conducted what they described as the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of aerobic and resistance exercise, alone and in combination, on insulin resistance in older nondiabetic subjects. The 6-month study involved 117 sedentary, abdominally obese men and women aged 60–80 years.

The study subjects were assigned to do aerobic exercise only, resistance exercise only, a combination of the two, or no exercise (control group). All exercise sessions were done under direct supervision and included heart rate monitoring.

The aerobic exercise group showed an “impressive” (31%) improvement in insulin resistance, comparable to the exercise response reported for younger adults. The drop in insulin resistance was even better (43%) in the aerobic-plus-resistance exercise group, Dr. Davidson and his colleagues said (Arch. Intern. Med. 2009;169:122–31).

Similarly, functional limitations—including the ability to rise from a chair and the number of steps that could be taken within 2 minutes—improved in all the exercise groups; the increase was greatest in the combined exercise group.

Total body fat and abdominal fat decreased with both aerobic exercise alone and aerobic-plus-resistance exercise, but not with resistance exercise alone. Conversely, skeletal muscle mass, as well as the ratio of fat to skeletal muscle mass, improved with resistance exercise and combined exercise but not with aerobic exercise alone.

These findings “lend empirical support to the recently revised public health guidelines for physical activity in older adults endorsed by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine,” the investigators said.

Moreover, since an estimated 62% of elderly women and 74% of elderly men in the United States have abdominal obesity, “it is likely that a sizable proportion of the older adult population would benefit from the exercise modalities studied,” they added.

Aerobic exercise helped decrease both abdominal fat and total body fat, the study found. ©PhotoDisc

The combination of aerobic and resistance exercise markedly reduced insulin resistance in older patients who had abdominal obesity, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Doing 90 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise combined with 60 minutes of resistance exercise 3 days per week also improved functional limitations, decreased abdominal and visceral fat, increased skeletal muscle mass, and improved cardiorespiratory fitness in these patients, staving off both disease and disability.

“It is difficult to imagine a more effective strategy for improving overall health in the elderly,” said Lance E. Davidson, Ph.D., of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., and his associates.

The researchers conducted what they described as the first randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of aerobic and resistance exercise, alone and in combination, on insulin resistance in older nondiabetic subjects. The 6-month study involved 117 sedentary, abdominally obese men and women aged 60–80 years.

The study subjects were assigned to do aerobic exercise only, resistance exercise only, a combination of the two, or no exercise (control group). All exercise sessions were done under direct supervision and included heart rate monitoring.

The aerobic exercise group showed an “impressive” (31%) improvement in insulin resistance, comparable to the exercise response reported for younger adults. The drop in insulin resistance was even better (43%) in the aerobic-plus-resistance exercise group, Dr. Davidson and his colleagues said (Arch. Intern. Med. 2009;169:122–31).

Similarly, functional limitations—including the ability to rise from a chair and the number of steps that could be taken within 2 minutes—improved in all the exercise groups; the increase was greatest in the combined exercise group.

Total body fat and abdominal fat decreased with both aerobic exercise alone and aerobic-plus-resistance exercise, but not with resistance exercise alone. Conversely, skeletal muscle mass, as well as the ratio of fat to skeletal muscle mass, improved with resistance exercise and combined exercise but not with aerobic exercise alone.

These findings “lend empirical support to the recently revised public health guidelines for physical activity in older adults endorsed by the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine,” the investigators said.

Moreover, since an estimated 62% of elderly women and 74% of elderly men in the United States have abdominal obesity, “it is likely that a sizable proportion of the older adult population would benefit from the exercise modalities studied,” they added.

Aerobic exercise helped decrease both abdominal fat and total body fat, the study found. ©PhotoDisc