Adjuvant Nitrate to Boost Exercise-induced Health Benefits in Older Adults
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Summary
Aging-related functional declines are thought to be caused by hallmark biological processes that ultimately manifest in physical, mental, and metabolic impairments to compromise intrinsic capacity and healthspan. Exercise is the only multipotent treatment with promise to mitigate many of the aging hallmarks, but there is substantial variability in individual exercise responsiveness. Thus, the investigators approach to boosting exercise responsiveness in aging is to combine an exercise training prescription containing both endurance and resistance training (in alignment with DHHS guidelines) with a nitrate-enriched dietary supplement to augment the cellular, tissue, and systemic adaptations that induce myriad health benefits of exercise in older adults.
Description
Aging-related declines in health and intrinsic capacity are linked to biological processes profoundly affecting all organ systems and tissues including skeletal muscle. Exercise is a multipotent countermeasure to these processes. However, there is significant inter-individual response heterogeneity (IRH) in the magnitude of exercise-induced health benefits. Boosting exercise responsiveness among older adults is thus a top priority. The investigators have found in older adults that supplementation with nitric oxide (NO) precursors nitrate and nitrite is safe, well tolerated, and improves: (i) p…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 60+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Male or female aged 60 years or older 2. Free of chronic disease or disorder that would preclude full participation or have the potential to confound results 3. No structured exercise program (2 or more bouts/wk) within previous 12 months 4. Cognitively capable of providing informed consent Exclusion Criteria: 1. BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2 2. Neurodegenerative disease 3. Neuromuscular, musculoskeletal or orthopedic disorder or condition that would limit ability to perform the exercise prescription and/or physical performance testing 4. Diagnosed orthostatic hypotension, i.e., a…
Interventions
- Dietary SupplementNitrate enriched beetroot juice
Participants will be randomized to an intervention in which they take 800 mg (2 x 400 mg) nitrate-enriched beetroot juice drink \[Beet It Sport Nitrate 400 (70 ml per drink)\]. Both nitrate and placebo will be purchased from Beet It.
- Dietary SupplementNitrate depleted beetroot juice
Manufacturer-matched placebo that is nitrate-depleted beetroot juice (70 ml per drink). Both nitrate and placebo will be purchased from Beet It.
- Other12 week of combined exercise training
All participants: An exercise dose will be composed of 12 wk of 3d/wk laboratory based supervised prescribed with strategic variations in intensity, volume, and modality across the 3 weekly sessions. During Monday and Friday RT sessions, participants complete 3 sets x 8-12 reps to volitional fatigue for leg press, knee extension, leg curl, overhead press, lat pulldown or row, and chest press in superset fashion with a 60 s rest between supersets. On Wednesday, participants perform 2 sets of 13-15 reps of leg press, knee extension, chest press and lat pulldowns with specific cues for speed and fast contractions. RT is complemented by the ET component which follows a Moderate-High Moderate intensity schedule with 30 min of 70-75% HRR steady state cycling on Monday and Friday separated by a Wednesday 20 min high intensity interval session on a cycle ergometer (1 min on/off; 10 cycles) at near maximal intensity with a target of 90% HRR.
Location
- Florida Institute for Human and Machine CognitionPensacola, Florida