Thu Apr 10, 2008 12:23pm EDT
Reuters.com
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a study of healthy older adults lifting weights regularly, for 3 months, taking recommended daily doses of ibuprofen (like that in Advil) or acetaminophen (like that in Tylenol) led to substantially greater increases over inactive placebo in quadriceps muscle mass and strength.
Dr. Chad C. Carroll, a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Todd Trappe in the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, reported the study results this week during the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society, part of the Experimental Biology 2008 scientific conference in San Diego.
Taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen regularly during resistance training seems to induce chances within the muscle that enhance the metabolic response to resistance exercise, which promotes additional muscle building and strength gains in the elderly, the researchers found.
During 12 weeks of supervised knee-extensor weight training, performed three times per week for 15 to 20 minutes, 36 men and women, between 60 and 78 years old, were randomly assigned to ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or placebo in doses mimicking what chronic users of these pain relievers were likely to be taking on a daily basis.
"We used 1200 milligrams a day for ibuprofen and 4000 milligrams per day of acetaminophen, which is the maximum over-the-counter daily dose," Dr. Trappe explained in an interview with Reuters Health.
As expected, resistance training alone (placebo group) increased quadriceps muscle mass and muscle strength. However, the increases were far greater in the ibuprofen and acetaminophen groups.
"The muscles of the ibuprofen and acetaminophen users got 40 to 60 percent bigger than the placebo group and their muscle strength also went up higher than the placebo group," Trappe said.
Specifically, muscle volume increased 11 percent in the ibuprofen group and 13 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 9 percent in the placebo group. Muscle strength increased 30 percent in the ibuprofen group and 28 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 23 percent in the placebo group.
These finding were somewhat surprising, Trappe said. In a prior study, his team measured muscle protein synthesis over a 24-hour period and found that ibuprofen and acetaminophen had a negative impact on muscle by blocking the COX enzyme.
Based on this acute study, "we figured that these drugs would actually get in the way of muscle building in the elderly -- the group that seems to benefit the most from doing resistance exercises," Trappe explained.
The researchers are now examining muscle biopsies taken from the study subjects before and after the 3-month period of resistance training to better understand the metabolic mechanism behind the apparent beneficial effects of ibuprofen and acetaminophen during weight training.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Weight discrimination common, U.S. survey finds
Wed Apr 9, 2008 5:29pm EDT
09 Apr 2008
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Discrimination against the overweight may be about as prevalent as racial discrimination, the results of a survey of U.S. adults suggest.
Using data from a survey of nearly 2,300 Americans, researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut found that 5 percent of men and 10 percent of women said they had faced discrimination because of their weight -- ranging from job refusals to rude treatment in everyday life.
Among respondents who were severely obese -- having a body mass index
(BMI) of 35 or higher -- 40 percent reported instances of weight discrimination. A body mass index is the ratio between height and weight commonly used to classify individuals as over- or underweight.
Weight bias also rivaled the prevalence of other, long-recognized forms of discrimination, the researchers report in the International Journal of Obesity.
Among women, weight discrimination was the third most common form, behind sex and age discrimination. Among all adults, it came in fourth overall, after sex, age and racial discrimination.
The findings point to a need for "organized efforts" to combat weight bias, the researchers note in their report.
"In order to reduce weight bias, we need major shifts in societal attitudes," lead researcher Dr. Rebecca M. Puhl told Reuters Health.
This would include building awareness of weight discrimination and its consequences, Puhl noted, as well as improving media portrayals of obese individuals. Overweight people should also have legal protection against discrimination, she said.
The findings are based on a nationally representative sample of 2,290 Americans ages 25 to 74 who were surveyed between 1995 and 1996.
Respondents were asked whether they had ever been victims of discrimination based on race, religion, sex or various other reasons, including weight.
Of the men and women who reported weight discrimination, 60 percent said they had experienced work-related discrimination, such as not being hired, being passed over for promotion, or being wrongly fired.
Many also cited day-to-day types of discrimination, like being treated with less respect or courtesy than others, or being "perceived as inferior." And compared with victims of other forms of discrimination, those subjected to weight bias were more likely to say they had been called names or overtly insulted.
Women were particularly likely to perceive weight bias, with twice as many women as men reporting such discrimination.
This may not be surprising, according to Puhl, given the "stringent and unrealistic ideals of thinness that are placed on women in North America."
Indeed, the study found that women seemed to be vulnerable to weight discrimination even if they were moderately overweight, whereas only severely obese men reported discrimination at a rate comparable with their female counterparts.
"This means we need to be especially aware of the negative experiences and effects of weight bias among females," Puhl said.
SOURCE: International Journal of Obesity, online March 4, 2008.
09 Apr 2008
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Discrimination against the overweight may be about as prevalent as racial discrimination, the results of a survey of U.S. adults suggest.
Using data from a survey of nearly 2,300 Americans, researchers at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut found that 5 percent of men and 10 percent of women said they had faced discrimination because of their weight -- ranging from job refusals to rude treatment in everyday life.
Among respondents who were severely obese -- having a body mass index
(BMI) of 35 or higher -- 40 percent reported instances of weight discrimination. A body mass index is the ratio between height and weight commonly used to classify individuals as over- or underweight.
Weight bias also rivaled the prevalence of other, long-recognized forms of discrimination, the researchers report in the International Journal of Obesity.
Among women, weight discrimination was the third most common form, behind sex and age discrimination. Among all adults, it came in fourth overall, after sex, age and racial discrimination.
The findings point to a need for "organized efforts" to combat weight bias, the researchers note in their report.
"In order to reduce weight bias, we need major shifts in societal attitudes," lead researcher Dr. Rebecca M. Puhl told Reuters Health.
This would include building awareness of weight discrimination and its consequences, Puhl noted, as well as improving media portrayals of obese individuals. Overweight people should also have legal protection against discrimination, she said.
The findings are based on a nationally representative sample of 2,290 Americans ages 25 to 74 who were surveyed between 1995 and 1996.
Respondents were asked whether they had ever been victims of discrimination based on race, religion, sex or various other reasons, including weight.
Of the men and women who reported weight discrimination, 60 percent said they had experienced work-related discrimination, such as not being hired, being passed over for promotion, or being wrongly fired.
Many also cited day-to-day types of discrimination, like being treated with less respect or courtesy than others, or being "perceived as inferior." And compared with victims of other forms of discrimination, those subjected to weight bias were more likely to say they had been called names or overtly insulted.
Women were particularly likely to perceive weight bias, with twice as many women as men reporting such discrimination.
This may not be surprising, according to Puhl, given the "stringent and unrealistic ideals of thinness that are placed on women in North America."
Indeed, the study found that women seemed to be vulnerable to weight discrimination even if they were moderately overweight, whereas only severely obese men reported discrimination at a rate comparable with their female counterparts.
"This means we need to be especially aware of the negative experiences and effects of weight bias among females," Puhl said.
SOURCE: International Journal of Obesity, online March 4, 2008.
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