Therefore, doctors recommend regular physical activity to reduce negative changes in body composition and lower rates of illness and death.
Despite these recommendations, scientific evidence on the best types of exercise to improve body composition in older adults remains limited, according to researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, who explained that most previous studies were conducted on younger age groups, which do not reflect the metabolic and hormonal characteristics of older adults.
In this context, a recent study compared the effect of different intensity levels of exercise on the body composition of more than 120 older adults in the Greater Brisbane area of Australia, with an average age of 72 and a body mass index of approximately 26, which is within the normal range for those over 65.
The participants were randomly divided into three groups, each of which underwent three weekly training sessions on the treadmill, each session lasting 45 minutes, under the supervision of specialists, and at varying training intensitys, over a period of six months. (The treadmill exercises included periods of high effort that increased the load on the muscles, and were not limited to ordinary walking).
The results showed that all exercise patterns led to a slight loss of fat, but high-intensity interval training (HIIT) was the only type that preserved muscle mass and even achieved a significant reduction in body fat percentage.
Grace Rose, an exercise physiologist at Sunshine Coast University, said that high- and moderate-intensity exercise improved weight distribution around the abdominal area, but moderate-intensity training caused a slight decrease in muscle mass.
The study showed that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) involved short, repeated periods of extremely strenuous exercise (changing walking speed), during which breathing and speaking became difficult, interspersed with periods of less intense rest, which may explain its effectiveness in stimulating muscle protein synthesis in older adults.
The researchers suggested that this type of training puts more stress on the muscles, which sends a stronger signal to the body to maintain muscle tissue instead of losing it with age.
However, the researchers stressed the need for further studies to confirm these findings before they can be adopted in clinical recommendations.
The study concluded that high-intensity interval training may be the best option for healthy older adults, when their health allows, compared to other types of aerobic exercise, to improve body composition and reduce the risk of chronic age-related diseases.
The study was published in the journal Maturitas.
