Body Strength In Men Research Articles

How Dietary Choices and Nutritional Knowledge Relate to Eating Disorders and Body Esteem of Medical Students? A Single-Center Cross-Sectional Study.

Eating disorders and body image concerns are increasingly prevalent issues among young individuals, with medical students being particularly vulnerable due to heightened stress levels. This study enrolled 879 medical students to investigate these concerns. The KomPAN questionnaire was utilized to assess dietary habits and knowledge, the Body Esteem Scale (BES) to evaluate body satisfaction, and The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to identify eating disorders. A higher level of nutritional knowledge was found to be statistically significantly associated with attempts at excessive calorie restriction among women (β = 0.0864) and negatively among men (β = -0.2039). Moreover, it was negatively associated with self-control of food intake only among men (β = -0.2060). Furthermore, a higher BMI was associated with attempts of excessive calorie restriction in both women and men (β = 0.1052 and β = 0.1656, respectively) and negatively with self-control of food intake (β = -0.0813 and β = -0.1453, respectively). A higher BMI was associated with poorer body esteem across all variables in both genders, except for upper body strength among men. Nutritional knowledge did not correspond with any of these variables, while dietary quality was positively associated with physical condition in women and with physical condition, physical attractiveness, and upper body strength in men. Our study findings suggest that dietary interventions could be improved by considering gender-based behavioral differences and focusing on portion control for individuals with a higher BMI. Caution is warranted in extrapolating the results to the general population due to the specific nature of the study population.

Community-based football in men with prostate cancer: 1-year follow-up on a pragmatic, multicentre randomised controlled trial.

BackgroundPhysical exercise has been shown to be effective in relation to fatigue, aerobic fitness, and lower body strength in men with prostate cancer. However, research into the clinically relevant effects of interventions conducted in heterogeneous patient populations and in real-life clinical practice settings is warranted.Methods and findingsWe conducted a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel randomised controlled trial in 5 Danish urological departments. Recruitment began in May 2015, the first participant was randomised in June 2015, and the last participant was included in February 2017. In total, 214 men with prostate cancer were randomly assigned to either 6 months of free-of-charge football training twice weekly at a local club (football group [FG]) (n = 109) or usual care (usual care group [UG]) (n = 105), including brief information on physical activity recommendations at randomisation. Participants were on average 68.4 (SD 6.2) years old, 157 (73%) were retired, 87 (41%) were on castration-based treatment, 19 (9%) had received chemotherapy, and 41 (19%) had skeletal metastases at baseline. In this 1-year follow-up study, we evaluated the effects of community-based football training on the following outcomes: primary outcome, quality of life; secondary outcomes: continuation of football after 6 months, hip and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD), mental health score, fat and lean body mass, and safety outcomes, i.e., fractures, falls, and hospital admissions. Intention to treat (ITT) and per protocol (PP) analyses were conducted. No statistically significant between-group difference was observed in change in prostate-cancer-specific quality of life (ITT: 1.9 points [95% CI −1.9 to 5.8], p = 0.325; PP: 3.6 points [95% CI −0.9 to 8.2], p = 0.119). A statistically significant between-group difference was observed in change in total hip BMD, in favour of FG (0.007 g/cm2 [95% CI 0.004 to 0.013], p = 0.037). No differences were observed in change in lumbar spine BMD or lean body mass. Among patients allocated to football, 59% chose to continue playing football after the end of the 6-month intervention period. At 1-year follow-up in the PP population, FG participants had more improvement on the Mental Component Summary (2.9 [95% CI 0.0 to 5.7], p = 0.048 points higher) than UG participants, as well as a greater loss of fat mass (−0.9 kg [95% CI −1.7 to −0.1], p = 0.029). There were no differences between groups in relation to fractures or falls. Hospital admissions were more frequent in UG compared to FG (33 versus 20; the odds ratio based on PP analysis was 0.34 for FG compared to UG). There were 3 deaths in FG and 4 in UG. Main limitations of the study were the physically active control group and assessment of physical activity by means of self-report.ConclusionsIn this trial, participants allocated to football appeared to have improved hip BMD and fewer hospital admissions. Men who played football more than once a week for 1 year lost fat mass and reported improved mental health. Community-based football proved to be acceptable, even when club membership was not subsidised.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02430792.

Mechanical contributions of the cortical and trabecular compartments contribute to differences in age-related changes in vertebral body strength in men and women assessed by QCT-based finite element analysis

The biomechanical mechanisms underlying sex-specific differences in age-related vertebral fracture rates are ill defined. To gain insight into this issue, we used finite element analysis of clinical computed tomography (CT) scans of the vertebral bodies of L3 and T10 of young and old men and women to assess age- and sex-related differences in the strength of the whole vertebra, the trabecular compartment, and the peripheral compartment (the outer 2 mm of vertebral bone, including the thin cortical shell). We sought to determine whether structural and geometric changes with age differ in men and women, making women more susceptible to vertebral fractures. As expected, we found that vertebral strength decreased with age 2-fold more in women than in men. The strength of the trabecular compartment declined significantly with age for both sexes, whereas the strength of the peripheral compartment decreased with age in women but was largely maintained in men. The proportion of mechanical strength attributable to the peripheral compartment increased with age in both sexes and at both vertebral levels. Taken together, these results indicate that men and women lose vertebral bone differently with age, particularly in the peripheral (cortical) compartment. This differential bone loss explains, in part, a greater decline in bone strength in women and may contribute to the higher incidence of vertebral fractures among women than men. © 2011 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Randomized, Controlled Trial of Resistance Exercise in Prostate Cancer Survivors on ADT: Preliminary Findings

Prostate cancer survivors with advanced disease are commonly treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Serious side effects of ADT are rapid bone and muscle loss and fat gain that can compromise physical fitness and function. PURPOSE: We present preliminary data from an on-going randomized controlled one-year trial of strength training (STR) versus a control program of flexibility training (FLEX) in prostate cancer survivors on ADT. METHODS: To date, we have 20 men who have completed 6 months of exercise, baseline and 6 month testing (STR n=12 and FLEX n=8). Selected measures include the following: upper and lower body strength by 1-repetition maximum bench press (BPmax) and leg press (LPmax), functional leg and arm strength by time to complete 5 chair stands (CStime) and grip strength (GRP); and physical function by the physical performance battery (PPB). Paired t-tests were used to evaluate within group differences and ANOVA were used to compare differences between groups over time. RESULTS: There were no differences at baseline between groups in age, weight, height and physical function (p>.05). At 6 months, between group comparisons show that STR significantly increased BPmax (p=0.01) and a trend for improvement in CStime (p=.08) compared to FLEX. From baseline to 6 months, STR improved BPmax (p=.02) and CStime (p=.01) while the FLEX group decreased in GRP (p=.005) (Table 1).Table 1: % change in physical fitness and physical function measures after 6 months of trainingCONCLUSION: These preliminary data suggest that six months of strength training increases upper and lower body strength in men on ADT for prostate cancer. Definitive conclusions are precluded until the trial is complete. Supported by the Lance Armstrong Foundation