Fitness News You Can Use from October, 2009

Some recent research into fitness and health, from FitBits.

FitBits
Exercise ETC's
Review of Exercise Related Research
October 15, 2009

Compiled by Chris Marino, MS, CSCS
Director of Education, Exercise ETC

Exercise Maintains Visceral Fat Lost on Restricted Calorie Diet

The relationship between high visceral or deep abdominal fat and heart disease is well documented. Fortunately, weight loss plans that incorporate both restricted calorie intake and moderate to vigorous exercise have been shown to effectively reduce visceral fat. Sadly, most previously overweight or obese persons have difficulty maintaining weight and fat loss within the months and years following their initial efforts. Previous studies have found that it may require up to 90-minutes of regular structured exercise to facilitate such goals. However, researchers from the University of Alabama recently reported that as little as 80 minutes of weekly exercise might be partly effective.

Researchers followed 97 women who initially lost on average ~12 lb. body weight using a severely calorie restricted diet; less than 800 calories per day. Participants were then advised to exercise twice weekly for 40-minutes each session until the one-year follow-up. Body composition measurements were collected using both computed topography and DEXA scan (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry). Participants were subdivided into 5 groups: aerobic adherers, aerobic non-adherers, resistance adherers, resistance non-adherers, and no exercise.

Not surprisingly, participants who adhered to at least two 40-minute exercise sessions per week maintained a greater amount of weight loss compared to all other groups. Moreover, participants who were compliant with exercise did not regain significant amounts of visceral fat. The non-adhering group regained nearly 40% of visceral fat lost. Interestingly, it was not important whether participants performed resistance or aerobic exercise in training.

These findings could be valuable to many fitness professionals who typically see customers between 1 and three times weekly.

Hunter, G.R. et al (2009) Exercise Training Prevents Regain of Visceral Fat for 1 Year Following Weight Loss. Obesity. Epub ahead of print. October 8.

Nutrition Information at Fast Food Restaurants Does Not Reduce Consumption

If it were mandatory for restaurants to list nutrition information for all products would it change human behavior and curb calorie consumption? This is the question many cities across the US have asked in the effort to reduce obesity in major cities. In 2008, New York City became the first US city to implement such a strategy. Unfortunately, a recent study has found that since the nutrition labeling law was implemented consumption has actually increased!

Researchers at New York University compared the eating habits of adults in a low-income area of NYC to those of adults in Newark, NJ, where nutrition labeling is not required. Receipts were collected from 1,156 people at Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's and Wendy's. They also completed a survey.

Although nutrition awareness increased by more than three-fold the total calories purchased actually increased over the first year of this intervention; the opposite of the desired effect.

In an interview with Reuters News, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested the purpose is to provide education, but it's still the consumer's responsibility to make better choices. Thus, providing the opportunity to make an informed decision about food does not suggest that Americans will choose wisely. Most experts agree that this is only part of the solution and that once a more complete program that also incorporates knowledge of why and how food decisions effect health there will be a positive effect on obesity in cities.

Elbel, B. et al (2009) Calorie Labeling And Food Choices: A First Look At The Effects On Low-Income People In New York City. Health Affairs. Epub online: Oct 6th 10.1377/ hlthaff.28.6.w1110

Using Yoga to Reduce Hyper-kyphosis (Dowager’s Hump)

Commonly associated with a Dowager's Hump, hyper-kyphosis or an excessively convex thoracic spine, can result in respiratory restrictions, reduced functional capacity, falls, vertebral fractures and increased mortality. Interventions are necessary to prevent such conditions as it becomes more difficult to treat as flexibility is lost. A recent study suggests that yoga may be worth investigating.

Researchers at UCLA recruited 118 older adults who had moderate hyper-kyphosis but no disability. Participants were divided into Yoga or control groups. Those who were selected for the Yoga group participated in 60-minute classes 3 times per week for 6 months. The yoga exercises were designed to increase postural awareness, spinal flexibility and back extensor strength in addition to breathing. The control group attended a lunchtime seminar monthly and were mailed educational materials.

Although the benefits were small, ~5%, the yoga group had improved their spinal flexibility and degree of kyphosis was reduced after 6 months. The control group actually saw a progression of their kyphosis. More exciting, the yoga intervention appears to have reduced upper back pain, enhanced sleep quality, and may have increased some functional parameters (i.e. time to stand from sitting). Prior to the study around 60% of participants reported frequent back pain.

This study indicates that hyper-kyphosis may have some reversibility, however, that yoga exercises may be an effective method for preventing age-associated changes.

Greendale, G.A. et al (2009) Yoga Decreases Kyphosis in Senior Women and Men with Adult-Onset Hyperkyphosis: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Hendry, J. Yoga may decrease age-related dowager’s hump. Reuters Health. Oct 2, 2009.

Copyright Journal compilation 2009 The American Geriatrics Society/Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exercise May Help Treat ADD/ADHD as Well as Medication

Many experts agree that the one area we have the least knowledge of in this industry is the effect of exercise on the brain, or neuroscience. One particular area of interest in neuroscience is the potential for exercise in the management of ADD/ADHD. Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition characterized by impulsiveness, attention difficulties, and in many cases hyperactivity, affects nearly 2 million children under 12 and up to 8 million adults. Current management of ADD symptoms includes medication and behavioral therapy to learn techniques to enhance focus and productivity. Interestingly, exercise may help people with ADD to the point of reducing or eliminating the need for medication.

In a Medscape Today interview with the John J. Ratey, MD, the author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Dr. Ratey suggests that exercise will become more integral to management of ADD in the coming years.

Dr. Ratey suggests that the neurotransmitters released during exercise, specifically nor-epinephrine and dopamine, act similar to Ritalin and Adderall, two commonly prescribed stimulants used to treat ADD/ADHD. He also suspects that chronic exercise effects on the brain results in increased volume of neurotransmitters along with increased capacity for binding in the brain.

Although many of Dr. Ratey's theories are novel, he is relying on connections previously confirmed by neuroscientists who have studied the effects of exercise on the frontal cortex of the brain, the area most challenged in ADD/ADHD. Moreover, in practice Dr. Ratey has found a connection between long distance athletes and ADD following periods of detraining due to injury.

He began to recognize that individuals who were previously very active were seeking treatment for depression and exhibiting other symptoms of ADD when they no longer exercised as frequently or with as much volume. Thus, Dr. Ratey believes that severity of ADD and quantity of exercise to manage may be linearly correlated based. He uses Olympic Champion Michael Phelps as an example, whose ADD symptoms normalized after he began accumulating at least 3 hours of swimming practice daily.

Because of the variability in severity amongst ADD/ADHD cases, exercise may become the tertiary component in management in the future. Because hyper-focus on a single task is common amongst persons with ADD, and if Dr. Ratay's theories are valid it might be possible that many long distance athletes have been healthfully self-medicating for many years.

Wyong, P. (2009) Exercise and ADD: An Expert Interview With John J. Ratey, MD. Medscape Online. October 8.

Tags: Fitness News, FitBits, fitness, Health, yoga, ADD, ADHD, hyper-kyphosis, Fast Food, Nutrition Information, Visceral Fat, exercise, Exercise ETC