More than 3,000 research studies were presented at the American College of Sports Medicine’s Annual Meeting in Boston, 2016 (www.ACSM.org). Here are just seven nutrition-related highlights that might be of interest:
Protein and muscle
- As we age, we lose muscle. Eating protein prior to sleep is a nutritional strategy that helps curb overnight muscle loss. When healthy 71 year-old men added resistance exercise in the evening, and then consumed 40 grams of bedtime casein, the overnight muscle-building response increased 31% compared to men who did not do evening exercise. Sounds like we should lift weights at night and then eat casein-rich cottage cheese?
- Soldiers who ate a protein-rich diet but not enough calories lost muscle during 4 days of hard military training. If you are training hard, you want to be sure to consume not only adequate protein but also adequate calories if you want to maintain your muscles.
Weight
- If you think the more you exercise, the more weight you will lose, think again! Overfat middle-age adults who participated in a 12-month study saw no additional weight loss if they exercised for 250 minutes/week, as compared to those who exercised for 150 minutes. This suggests a compensatory response that thwarts fat loss.
- Do you burn many more calories by standing at a desk instead of sitting at your desk? No. Just standing increases energy expenditure by less than 10 calories per hour. But you might be less likely to gain weight if you include a brief 2-minute walk every 30 minutes. For example, you could walk to a printer down the hall, or take the stairs to use the upstairs bathroom.
- If you plan to go “on a diet,” you want to focus not only on eating less and exercising more, but also getting adequate sleep. Being sleep deprived can reduce your desire to exercise and eat well.
- The hulky body valued by football linemen may predispose them to sleep apnea—with the associated risks of heart disease and diabetes. If you are a heavy athlete who thinks you might have a sleep disorder, you might want to get a sleep assessment…
- A survey with college women reported exercise helped them feel strong, energized, more powerful, determined, balanced, content, inspired, and unstoppable. Yes, those are the right reasons to exercise—as opposed to exercising just to burn off calories.