Given the increasing prevalence of obesity, there is an urgent need to find better strategies to promote physical activity in the community. The present study will invite 70-year-olds with central (abdominal) obesity to participate in a 10-week aerobic exercise program. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two equally large groups. The first group will complete the exercise program in instructor-led groups. The second group will complete the program at home with the help of an on-line video.
Central obesity means having a lot visceral fat, that is, fat located in the abdominal cavity. Visceral fat is a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Participants will be recruited from the Healthy Ageing Initiative (HAI), an ongoing population-based study that invites all 70-year-olds in Umeå, Sweden, to a health examination. The exercise program will focus is on station-based aerobic exercises and resistance exercises, predominantly with participants' own body weight as resistance. The program is progressive, starting at a moderate pace so that participants learn to perform the exercises properly. The intensity will be aimed at 60-80% of maximal exhaustion, and each exercise bout will last 60 seconds with 20 seconds of rest between bouts. The program was developed by seniors in the bachelor's program in exercise physiology at Umeå University, Sweden.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
80
An aerobic exercise program consisting of 45-60 minute sessions 3 times a week for 10 weeks.
Livsmedicin (LIFE)
Umeå, Västerbotten County, Sweden
Change in visceral adipose tissue mass
Mass (g) measured using Lunar iDXA with CoreScan application (GE Healthcare, Wauwatosa, WI, USA).
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in body composition
Mass (g) measured using Lunar iDXA with CoreScan application (GE Healthcare, Wauwatosa, WI, USA)
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in Body Mass Index (kg/m^2)
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in blood pressure (mmHg)
Taken after 15 min of rest
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in blood-lipid profile
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in fasting blood glucose
Veinous blood samples taken after \> 4 h of fasting
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in isometric muscle strength
Measured in non-dominant hand with dynamometer (Jamar, Lafayette Instrument, USA). The better of two successive trials will be recorded.
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in physical capacity
Measured using Åstrands Submaximal Test, performed on an electrically braked ergometer bicycle
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in resting metabolic rate
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As measured by indirect calorimetry
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in health-related quality of life
As measured by RAND-36
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in self-reported physical activity
Assessed using IPAQ-SF
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in Microbiota composition
Fecal samples are taken and bacterial DNA is sequenced to determine bacterial composition
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in dietary habits
85 item food frequency questionnaire
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks
Change in concentration of inflammatory markers
Time frame: 0, 10, 20, and 31 weeks