Effects of an increased habitual dietary protein intake followed by resistance training on fitness, muscle quality and body composition of seniors: a randomised controlled trial

Autor(en)

Sandra Unterberger, Rudolf Aschauer, Patrick A. Zöhrer, Agnes Draxler, Bernhard Franzke, Eva-Maria Strasser, Karl-Heinz Wagner, Barbara Wessner

Abstrakt

Background & Aims

Resistance training and a sufficient amount of dietary protein have been suggested to build up and maintain muscle mass, strength and function into old age. As there is still no consensus on the optimum amount of protein intake in older people, this study aims to evaluate first whether it is achievable to double the recommended amount, which is 1 g/kg BW/d in German speaking countries, via food administration and secondly whether this would lead to stronger improvements when subsequently combined with resistance training.

Methods

In total, 136 community-dwelling older adults (54% females, 72.9 ± 4.8 yrs) were randomly assigned to one of the three study groups: observational control (CON), recommended protein (RP+T) and high protein (HP+T) intake groups. After six weeks of observation or nutritional counselling to achieve the respective protein target levels, eight weeks of resistance training (2x/week) were applied in RP+T and HP+T groups. Parameters indicative for muscle mass, strength and function were measured at baseline (t1), before (t2) and after the training period (t3).

Results

Baseline protein intake for the different groups were 0.83 (CON), 0.97 (RP+T) and 0.78 (HP+T) g/kg BW/d and increased by 0.18 ± 0.31 (RP+T, p = 0.003) and 0.83 ± 0.33 (HP+T, p > 0.001) g/kg BW/d between t1 and t3 while CON remained unchanged. Most of the physical performance parameters improved over time, but no interaction effects between group and time could be observed. While body fat mass initially increased from t1 to t2 (0.8 ± 2.3 kg, p = 0.001), skeletal muscle mass decreased (-0.5 ± 1.9 kg, p = 0.025), a trend which was reversed from t2 to t3 only in HP+T group (body fat mass: -0.47 ± 2.12 kg, p = 0.041; muscle mass: 0.51 ± 1.57 kg, p = 0.021).

Conclusion

The findings suggest that a substantial increase of habitual protein intake above the currently recommended levels is achievable within 17 weeks in community-dwelling older adults, whereby the extra amount of protein led to minor changes in body composition but not physical performance or muscle quality (NCT04023513).

Organisation(en)

Forschungsplattform Active Ageing, Institut für Sport- und Bewegungswissenschaft, Department für Ernährungswissenschaften, Zentrum für Sportwissenschaft und Universitätssport

Externe Organisation(en)

Sozialmedizinisches Zentrum Süd – Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Spital

Journal

Clinical Nutrition

Band

Seiten

1034-1045

Anzahl der Seiten

ISSN

0261-5614

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2022.02.017

Publikationsdatum

02-2022

Peer-reviewed

ÖFOS 2012

303028 Sportwissenschaft, 303009 Ernährungswissenschaften, 302020 Gerontologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine, Nutrition and Dietetics

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/effects-of-an-increased-habitual-dietary-protein-intake-followed-by-resistance-training-on-fitness-muscle-quality-and-body-composition-of-seniors-a-randomised-controlled-trial(89d6c369-9a31-4620-8d92-d38931b282b6).html