doing an essay on studies...need a topic! (reps for help)

[Ted Nugent]

howdy guys,
for one of my Kinesiology classes im writing a paper on something to with physical activity and older people, essay needs to be based off of pub-med studies. Im thinking something along the lines of "metabolism and aging" or "effects of HRT on muscular strength/endurance" Im hoping to dial in a really specific topic so i can dig up some quality research and the professor hinted that the more specific the topic the better grade. i know most of you in here are well versed in this kind of stuff so i was hoping for some input to point me in the right direction!

[Emma-Leigh]

There is a lot of research out... but most of it is un-inventive (they don't like to experiment on the elderly a lot )....

Most common issues in the elderly -
Prevention of sarcopaenia
Maintenance of strength
Prevention of falls
Prevention of osteoporosis
Safety of supplements/ diets (creatine, protein, etc)....
^
Lots of stuff on sarcopaenia.... so could be a good area if you wanted to have a good look on that (sarcopenia to American spellers )... eg -> "combination of resistance training, creatine, and high protein diet in the prevention of sarcopenia in the elderly...."
[side note - creatine has recently been ??? shown to stimulate DHT production << could also feed into your HRT idea? ]

Something like that?

A few I had on file to do with aging.... have attached.... (*edit* => not sure if all are ok for access online.... have unattached - but abstracts below -> pm me if you want them... )

Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care 2009, 12:86?90

Dietary protein recommendations and the prevention of sarcopenia
Douglas Paddon-Jones and Blake B. Rasmussen

Purpose of review
To draw attention to recent work on the role of protein and the amount of protein needed
with each meal to preserve skeletal muscle mass in ageing.

Recent findings
Ageing does not inevitably reduce the anabolic response to a high-quality protein meal.
Ingestion of approximately 25?30 g of protein per meal maximally stimulates muscle
protein synthesis in both young and older individuals. However, muscle protein
synthesis is blunted in elderly when protein and carbohydrate are coingested or when
the quantity of protein is less than approximately 20 g per meal. Supplementing regular
mixed-nutrient meals with leucine may also enhance the muscle protein synthetic
response in elders.

Summary
On the basis of recent work, we propose a novel and specific dietary approach to
prevent or slow down muscle loss with ageing. Rather than recommending a large,
global increase in the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for protein for all elderly
individuals, clinicians should stress the importance of ingesting a sufficient amount
of protein with each meal. To maximize muscle protein synthesis while being cognizant
of total energy intake, we propose a dietary plan that includes 25?30 g of high
quality protein per meal.

J Nutr Health Aging. 2007 Mar-Apr;11(2):185-8.
Effect of creatine supplementation during resistance training on muscle accretion in the elderly.
Candow DG, Chilibeck PD.

Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. darrencandow@hotmail.com
Sarcopenia, defined as the age-related loss of muscle mass, is a serious health concern. Contributing factors to sarcopenia include physical inactivity and undernutrition. Resistance training has a positive effect on muscle mass in the elderly. However, muscle loss is still observed in older adults who perform weight bearing exercise; suggesting that nutrition is important. Creatine supplementation has the potential to increase muscle accretion during resistance training, although the mechanism for its ergogenic effect is unclear. Creatine has the potential to increase cellular hydration and myogenic transcription factors and facilitate the up-regulation of muscle specific-genes such as myosin heavy chain possibly leading to muscle hypertrophy.

[Ted Nugent]

WOW! thanks emma!! awesome stuff. im thinking of something along the lines of the potential postivive/negative effects of resistance training, increased protein diet, and creatine on prevention or slowing of sarcopenia. i just wanted to do something unique and very specific since i know 95% or more of the other kids doing the essay are going to focusing solely on "exercise and training to improve health and prevent muscle loss in the elderly". so my ideas at the moment are:

-effects/benefits of protein/creatine/supps on the elderly
-effects of resistance training on preventing falls
-hormonal effects of resistance training in elderly males
-something very diet specific (ex, affect of alcohol on the body comp and metabolism of older males, or metabolic/physiological effects of increased carb consumption in older perssons)

and considering what you said about creatine having an effect on DHT, i could use that to shape something like "the net hormonal effects of resistance training and creatine (and something else) supplementation in older males"

i am rarely excited to do schoolwork but i am very, very interested in this kind of stuff and super stoked to get too work

[zither]

How about the effect of resistance training on overweight/obese elderly:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...m&ordinalpos=3

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...m&ordinalpos=6

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...&ordinalpos=14

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...&ordinalpos=24

[Emma-Leigh]

Originally Posted by Ted Nugent

WOW! thanks emma!! awesome stuff. im thinking of something along the lines of the potential postivive/negative effects of resistance training, increased protein diet, and creatine on prevention or slowing of sarcopenia. i just wanted to do something unique and very specific since i know 95% or more of the other kids doing the essay are going to focusing solely on "exercise and training to improve health and prevent muscle loss in the elderly". so my ideas at the moment are:

-effects/benefits of protein/creatine/supps on the elderly
-effects of resistance training on preventing falls
-hormonal effects of resistance training in elderly males
-something very diet specific (ex, affect of alcohol on the body comp and metabolism of older males, or metabolic/physiological effects of increased carb consumption in older perssons)

and considering what you said about creatine having an effect on DHT, i could use that to shape something like "the net hormonal effects of resistance training and creatine (and something else) supplementation in older males"

i am rarely excited to do schoolwork but i am very, very interested in this kind of stuff and super stoked to get too work

LOL - Good to see you excited.... (me = nerd... I am always excited about studies! ).

Let us know how it goes and what you end up choosing...

[Ted Nugent]

so after spending hours browsing through studies, brainstorming, and miscing lol, i decided on a topic finallyyyy. Im doing something along the lines of "countering the hormonal decline of aging through training, diet, and supplementation".
im going to focus on how resistance training in older/elderly males shows a significant acute effect in raising hormones but over the long term this is a very minimal hormonal effect from training. using that as my starting point im going to go into how HRT therapy combined with resistance training can prolong the positive hormonal effects of resistance training in elderly males. also how supplementation of creatine and fish oil can have positive effects. finally i will bring up how a diet with proper ratios of protein and saturated fats can have a positive influence on muscle mass and hormones. everything will be backed up by studies and i think this is a unique and interesting approach to this topic!

[Emma-Leigh]

Originally Posted by Ted Nugent

so after spending hours browsing through studies, brainstorming, and miscing lol, i decided on a topic finallyyyy. Im doing something along the lines of "countering the hormonal decline of aging through training, diet, and supplementation".
im going to focus on how resistance training in older/elderly males shows a significant acute effect in raising hormones but over the long term this is a very minimal hormonal effect from training. using that as my starting point im going to go into how HRT therapy combined with resistance training can prolong the positive hormonal effects of resistance training in elderly males. also how supplementation of creatine and fish oil can have positive effects. finally i will bring up how a diet with proper ratios of protein and saturated fats can have a positive influence on muscle mass and hormones. everything will be backed up by studies and i think this is a unique and interesting approach to this topic!

^
sounds great! (sounds like LOTS of work ) >> maybe touch on clinical BENEFIT too...?? It is all well and good to increase hormone levels - but why is that important? What will it mean for the individual and the public health system? And will it be worth the cost?

Good luck!

[Ted Nugent]

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

^
sounds great! (sounds like LOTS of work ) >> maybe touch on clinical BENEFIT too...?? It is all well and good to increase hormone levels - but why is that important? What will it mean for the individual and the public health system? And will it be worth the cost?

Good luck!

just talked to my professor and he wants me to narrow it down, plus the topic is "exercise in older adults" so he didnt want me getting too carried away lol. i decided on how resistance training affects the hormonal environment of an older male and how it would have a positive or negative affect on sarcopenia. basically i got my idea from the idea that older/elderly guys should weight train to gain muscle, but all the studies i have found say there is no net increase in the test/GH levels from baseline after 16 weeks of training. so i was thinking along the lines of "if the older males test/gh levels are not increasing and aging and sarcopenia are further decreasing these hormones necessary for muscle development, how effective is weight training actually going to be for muscle building/preservation?"