Effects on muscles of dieting with or without exercise in
overweight postmenopausal women.
Svendsen, Ole Lander, Marcin Krotkiewski, Christian Hassager, and
Claus Christiansen.
Center for Clinical and Basic Research, Ballerup Byvej 222, DK-2750
Ballerup, Denmark, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Sahlgren's
Hospital, S-41345 Gothenburg, Sweden
APStracts 3:0024A, 1996.
The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an energy
-restrictive, high-protein diet with or without exercise on muscle
morphology and biochemistry. Moderate overweight, postmenopausal
women (49-58 year, BMI: 25-42 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to three
groups for 12 weeks of intervention; namely controls, a 4.2 MJ/d
diet, or 4.2 MJ/d with combined aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
Muscle morphology and biochemistry analysis were performed in 69 and
58 women, respectively. In contrast to the diet-only group, the diet
-plus-exercise group significantly increased the muscle fiber areas by
20-25%, the number of capillaries per muscle fiber type I by 20%, and
the activities of citrate synthase by 35% and hexokinase by 20%
(p<0.05). There were no statistically significant changes in any
other muscle variable (p>0.05). The respiratory exchange ratio
decreased in both intervention groups by 2-4% (p<0.01). It is
concluded that 12 weeks of an energy-restrictive, high-protein diet
was not associated with major changes in muscle morphology or
biochemistry. The addition of exercise to the diet led to an adaptive
increase in muscle fiber areas and in the oxidative capacity of the
muscles.
Received 7 August 1995; accepted in final form 2 November 1995.
APS Manuscript Number A866-5.
Article publication pending Journal of Applied Physiology.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 25 January 96