Protein distribution in older adults
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effects of dietary protein distribution on the responsiveness to resistance exercise training in older adults
IRAS ID
183959
Contact name
Danielle Thomas
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Sarcopenia is defined as age related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. The ‘acute’ response to anabolic factors which promote muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and contribute to regulation of muscle mass, such as protein ingestion and resistance exercise, is blunted in older muscle compared to younger muscle. This may translate into ‘chronic’ blunting of responsiveness, evidenced by studies comparing changes in muscle size and strength in young and older adults after exercise training. Hence, optimisation of anabolic responsiveness is important in the development of interventions to combat sarcopenia. The aim of this research is to consider the influence of the different distributions of daily protein intake combined with resistance exercise training (RET) in adults aged ≥70 years.
Older women will be recruited from the Birmingham Elders volunteer database for this 12 week study. They will be assigned a diet, which will deliver dietary protein either in either a Pulse distribution (3 meals as 10%, 80% and 10%) or a Spread distribution (3 x 33%). During the first two weeks, participants will undertake unilateral lower limb RET (3 sessions/week). The primary outcome will be MPS, measured using upper thigh muscle biopsies, taken from both legs to compare between trained and untrained legs as well as between protein distribution groups.
For the remaining 10 weeks RET will take the form of functional resistance training in both legs, as two group exercise classes and one independent session per week. Outcome measures will be lean body mass, muscle power, functional ability (Short Physical Performance Battery, Timed Up and Go), physical activity (accelerometry), serum inflammatory markers (IL-1, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha and the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10) and food diaries. This section will be used as a feasibility trial, to determine whether such an intervention is feasible in free-living older adults over this period of time.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0005
Date of REC Opinion
18 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion