A combination of diet and exercise can help obese seniors lose weight and stay fit much better than either diet or exercise alone.
A combination of diet and exercise can help obese seniors lose weight and stay fit much better than either diet or exercise alone.
The finding may sound obvious, but this has not been proven previously in people over 65 years.
In a year-long trial, researchers tracked the health of 93 obese people who were 65 years or older in America. The participants were assigned to one of four groups: Some took part in a 90-minute exercise routine (including stretching, aerobic activity and training on weight machines) three times a week. Others reduced their diets by 500 to 700 calories a day, roughly equal to a couple of servings of low-sugar cereal with non-fat milk. A third group dieted and exercised, while a fourth group, acting as a control, did none of the programmes.
It was found that those on diet and exercise did the best, losing 9 percent of their weight while retaining lean body mass, increasing oxygen consumption and improving their strength and balance. The diet-alone group lost 10 percent of their weight but did not achieve similar physical improvements. And the exercise group, along with the control group, lost no weight.
It's wasn't surprising that those who only exercised didn't shed weight. There's a myth that exercise is effective in inducing weight loss and that exercise must be intense to cause people to shed weight.
Overall, diet or exercise alone did improve physical function, by about 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively. But a combination of diet and exercise improved overall physical performance by 21 percent.
Many physicians worry about recommending dietary changes and exercise for older people for fear that weight loss may cause them to lose muscle and bone mass and increase frailty. But the above findings suggest that older people, with approval from a physician, should combine diet and weight management to improve their physical function and their quality of life and delay the need for institutionalisation.
This is important because obesity exacerbates the age-related decline in physical function, which causes frailty, impairs quality of life, and results in higher nursing home admissions.
The finding may sound obvious, but this has not been proven previously in people over 65 years.
In a year-long trial, researchers tracked the health of 93 obese people who were 65 years or older in America. The participants were assigned to one of four groups: Some took part in a 90-minute exercise routine (including stretching, aerobic activity and training on weight machines) three times a week. Others reduced their diets by 500 to 700 calories a day, roughly equal to a couple of servings of low-sugar cereal with non-fat milk. A third group dieted and exercised, while a fourth group, acting as a control, did none of the programmes.
It was found that those on diet and exercise did the best, losing 9 percent of their weight while retaining lean body mass, increasing oxygen consumption and improving their strength and balance. The diet-alone group lost 10 percent of their weight but did not achieve similar physical improvements. And the exercise group, along with the control group, lost no weight.
It's wasn't surprising that those who only exercised didn't shed weight. There's a myth that exercise is effective in inducing weight loss and that exercise must be intense to cause people to shed weight.
Overall, diet or exercise alone did improve physical function, by about 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively. But a combination of diet and exercise improved overall physical performance by 21 percent.
Many physicians worry about recommending dietary changes and exercise for older people for fear that weight loss may cause them to lose muscle and bone mass and increase frailty. But the above findings suggest that older people, with approval from a physician, should combine diet and weight management to improve their physical function and their quality of life and delay the need for institutionalisation.
This is important because obesity exacerbates the age-related decline in physical function, which causes frailty, impairs quality of life, and results in higher nursing home admissions.
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