Effect of elastic-band resistance training on myostatin, follistatin levels in elderly women with osteosarcopenic obesity

Myostatin, its inhibitor follistatin have been proposed as factors that could potentially modify biological aging. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks elastic-band resistance training on myostatin, follistatin levels in elderly women with osteosarcopenic obesity.

In this randomized, single blind randomized clinical trial, 48 elderly women with osteosarcopenic obesity (based on the results of the DEXA test, age 64.63 ± 3.68 (years), fat percentage 45.4 ± 6.6 (%), BMI 33.1 ± 3.71 (kg/m2), T score of bone minerals density of femur and 1-4 lumbar spine -1.86 ± 1.42) were randomly divided to control (n = 22) and exercise (n = 26). The training group performed 12 weeks and three sessions a week elastic-band resistance training for all major muscle groups. 48 hours before and after 12 weeks of intervention, blood sampling intervention was performed. Paired-sample t-test was used for intra-group comparisons and Ancova was used for comparison between groups.

The between groups comparison showed the a mount of significant difference in Follistatin (P=0.002) in training group, weight (P = 0.001), fat percentage (P = 0.001) increased and the ratio of follystatin to myostatin (P = 0.018) decreasedsignificantly.incontrol groups. However, there were no significant difference in body mass index (P = 0.054), myostatin (P=0.095) between groups.

Resistance training with elastic band seems to be an appropriate exercise strategy that can improve body composition and muscle mass in elderly people with osteosarcopenic obesity by modulating follistatin and myostatin levels.