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Resting metabolic rate, body composition and aerobic fitness comparisons between active and sedentary 54 –71 year old males

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 53, pages 434–440 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To test the hypothesis that 55–70 y old male longterm exercisers (LE) have higher resting metabolic rates (RMR) than longterm nonexercisers (LNE).

Design: A power analysis demonstrated that this cross-sectional study required 12 subjects per group to detect a 10% RMR difference (kJ · kg FFM−1 · d−1) between the LE and LNE (power=0.8; α=0.05).

Subjects: Twelve LE (X±s.d.63.5±3.4 y; 1.75±0.06 m; 69.01±8.24 kg; 20.4±4.9 %BF) and 12 LNE (63.6±5.6 y; 1.72±0.07 m; 79.44±12.4 kg; 29.6±4.4 %BF) were recruited from advertisements placed in a newspaper and on university and community noticeboards.

Interventions: Measurements were conducted for: RMR using the Douglas bag technique; body composition via a four compartment model which is based on determination of body density, total body water and bone mineral mass; and aerobic fitness using a submaximal work test on a cycle ergometer.

Results: The LE (93.00±7.16 kJ · kg−1·d−1) registered a significantly greater (P=0.04) RMR than the LNE (84.70±11.23 kJ · kg−1·d−1) when energy expenditure was expressed relative to body mass, but this difference disappeared (P=0.55) when the data were corrected for the non-zero intercept of the graph of RMR (MJ/d) against body mass. ANCOVA with FFM as the covariate also indicated that the RMR (MJ/d) difference between the groups was not statistically significant (P=0.28). The adjusted means for the LE and LNE were 6.39 and 6.62 MJ/d, respectively.

Conclusions: There are no RMR (MJ/d) differences between LE and LNE 54–71 y old males when statistical control is exerted for the effect of FFM and the higher value of the former group for RMR normalised to body mass disappears when this ratio is corrected for statistical bias.

Sponsorship: This study was supported by a joint grant from the Flinders University of South Australia and CSIRO (Australia).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise Physiology Laboratory, School of Education, The Flinders University of South Australia, 5042, South Australia, Australia

    DA Smith, RT Withers & RC Tucker

  2. Division of Human Nutrition, CSIRO (Australia), PO Box 10041, Gouger Street, Adelaide, 5000, South Australia, Australia

    M Brinkman & DG Clark

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000, Australia

    BE Chatterton & CG Schultz

Authors
  1. DA Smith
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  2. RT Withers
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  3. M Brinkman
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  4. RC Tucker
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  5. BE Chatterton
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  6. CG Schultz
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  7. DG Clark
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Contributions

Guarantor: Dr DA Smith.

Contributionship: DAS collected and analysed the data and helped to write the paper; RTW conceived the study, secured the research funding, supervised the project and wrote the paper; MB and RCT helped to collect and analyse the data; BEC and CGS conducted the DXA scans; DGC assisted with the application for research funds, co-supervised the project and helped with writing the paper.

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Smith, D., Withers, R., Brinkman, M. et al. Resting metabolic rate, body composition and aerobic fitness comparisons between active and sedentary 54 –71 year old males. Eur J Clin Nutr 53, 434–440 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600771

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600771

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