Planned weight loss won’t weaken older women
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Obese, postmenopausal age women who decide to trim down don’t need to worry that they will put themselves in danger of disability by doing so, even if they don’t exercise as recommended, a new study shows.
After losing a substantial amount of weight through diet, but without exercising, 23 obese women in their 50s showed no reduction in muscle strength or fitness, even though they had lost muscle mass, Dr. Jamehl Demons of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“There was a trend actually toward increasing physical fitness,” Demons told Reuters Health. “Our supposition is really that that was due to the weight loss itself.”
People lose muscle mass as they age, and some experts have been concerned that weight loss late in life may accelerate muscle loss and increase the risk of disability.
To investigate, Demons and her team had 23 obese women eat 400 calories less per day for five months. They lost an average of 11.6 kilograms (about 26 pounds), 35 percent of which was lean mass or muscle. After the weight loss, the women showed no change in their walking speed or muscle strength. Their aerobic fitness and speed in rising from a chair had improved, although the change wasn’t statistically significant.
Despite the findings, Demons said, exercising is recommended for older people who are trying to lose weight through dieting, because it will help them to preserve muscle mass and build fitness.
The question of whether unintentional weight loss will reduce strength among older women remains unanswered, she added.
SOURCE: American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting, May 2007.
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