Abstract
Many obese elderly persons have impaired physical function due to increased body fat relative to strength. We evaluated 12 weeks of exercise (aerobic and resistance, E) or 12 weeks of weight loss (WL) on skeletal muscle mRNAs for mechanogrowth factor (MGF), tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) in 16 obese (BMI: 38±2 kg/m2) older (69±1 yrs) physically frail individuals. m. vastus lateralis biopsies were obtained at 0 and 12 weeks and analyzed by real time RT‐PCR. Body composition was assessed by dual x‐ray absorptiometry. Body weight decreased (−7.5 ±1.2 kg, p=0.001) in WL, but not in E (−0.3±0.8 kg, p=0.74). Fat free mass (FFM) decreased (−2.9±0.6 kg, p=0.010) in WL and increased (1.6±0.6 kg, p=0.03) in E. E led to a significant (~70%) decrease in IL‐6 and TNF‐α mRNA (p<0.05) while WL had no effect. In E, the change in FFM was related to the change in the expression of genes for IL‐6 (r=−0.79, p=0.02) and TNF‐α (r=−0.68, p=0.06). E increased MGF mRNA (~2 fold, p<0.05) but WL had no effect. In conclusion, exercise in frail obese elderly individuals had a beneficial effect on markers of muscle anabolism and inflammation while weight loss had no effect.
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