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Strength Training Is an Antidote to Muscle Loss In
Elderly
By Rosalie Marion Bliss
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Exercise physiologist Jennifer Layne
(middle) and program coordinator Charlotte Mallio test a
volunteer's muscle strength. |
May 4, 2005 - Resistance or "strength" training has
repeatedly been shown to be a safe and effective method of reversing
sarcopenia, or muscle loss, in the elderly. The condition actually
starts around age 45, when muscle mass begins to decline at a rate of
about 1 percent per year. Scientists funded by the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS)
have been studying the factors involved in gradual muscle loss since
1988.
The work is conducted at the Jean Mayer USDA
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at
Tufts University in Boston, Mass.
Carmen Castaneda Sceppa, a physician specializing in nutrition, led
the research at the HNRCA's Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and
Sarcopenia Laboratory (NEPS).
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While older adults need strength training to
maintain their muscle mass, exercise can also help reduce the risk and
symptoms of many chronic diseases, such as arthritis, coronary artery
disease, diabetes, frailty, obesity and osteoporosis.
Exercise is by definition different from moderate
physical activity. Actual exercise--by design--improves the five key
components of physical fitness: muscle strength, muscle endurance, body
composition, cardio-respiratory endurance and flexibility.
The findings show that in a group of volunteers
with osteoarthritis, a joint disease, muscle strength increased by 14
percent and balance improved by 55 percent after a 12-week
strength-training program. Flexibility also improved by 17 percent, and
pain, based on self reports, decreased by 30 percent.
In another group of volunteers, with chronic kidney
disease and on low-protein diets, total muscle fiber increased by 32
percent, and muscle strength increased by 30 percent after 12 weeks of
strength training. Those who did not exercise lost about 9 pounds, or 3
percent of their body weight.
Instruction by a trained individual is important
for strength-training older adults, according to HNRCA senior exercise
physiologist Jennifer Layne, who started a grass-roots exercise
initiative for older adults inspired by NEPS studies.
Read more about the research in the May 2005 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is
USDA's chief in-house scientific research agency.
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