Reversing Muscle Loss With Exercise Training and Daily Consumption of Pomegranate Juice

NCT ID: NCT03258346

Last Updated: 2019-02-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 40 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-11-07
• Study Completion Date: 2018-12-15

Brief Summary

A research study regarding the body's response to several weeks of training using short sprints and pomegranate juice supplementation

Detailed Description

The investigators have shown that chronic pomegranate juice consumption in both young untrained and weight-trained men partially protects muscles against the damage done from performing high intensity eccentric contractions and that it accelerates recovery of function. Clearly, skeletal muscle is a target for some of the healthful molecules in pomegranate juice. However, the most widespread and serious ailment to strike skeletal muscle is sarcopenia (e.g.; loss of muscle mass and becoming 'frail') with age due predominantly to a loss of 'fast-twitch' muscle fibers. Since adults rarely sprint or exert maximal force or power, they rarely use their fast-twitch muscle fibers, which thus degenerate greatly with age. Usually, about one-half of a person's muscle fibers are fast-twitch. It is the investigators' hypothesis that the combination of power exercise training and pomegranate juice supplementation (POM) over 10 weeks, will elicit greater improvements in maximal muscular power and functional physical abilities compared to power training with a placebo. The investigators also will identify changes in size and composition of leg muscles (MRI) and of the whole body (DEXA). The investigators simple logic is that muscles deteriorate with age because they are 'turned-off' and that exercise training can turn them 'back-on', but in order for the muscle fibers to fully repair when turned 'back-on' with exercise, they might benefit from agents known to foster repair, such as the natural polyphenols in pomegranate juice. It has recently been found that polyphenols are metabolized into urolithins which improve muscle cell function due to increased mitophagy. The investigators aim to determine if power training and pomegranate juice have additive effects in promoting improvements of muscle function and mass in men and women age 50-70 y.

A second purpose is to include a cardio-metabolic exercise training stimulus into the workout without compromising the efficacy of the power training. One feature of cardio-metabolic training is an increase in muscle mitochondria and oxygen utilization which might improve muscle fiber repair. The 'power training' will consist of maximal effort 4 sec sprints on a cycle ergometer with no added resistance with the only load being that of the inertia of the flywheel as the subject accelerates from 0 to their maximal RPM's while cycling (100-150 RPM)('inertial load ergometer'; ILE). The power training will be accomplished by having the subject complete 15-30 sprints in a 15 min period. During the training bouts, initially the subjects will rest 56 s between sprints (week 1- complete 15 sprints in each15 min bout), and then 41 s between sprints (weeks 2-5 and complete 20 sprints) and finally 26 s between sprints (weeks 6-10 and complete 30 sprints). The shorter rest periods (41 s and 26 s) will result in incomplete recovery of the cardio-respiratory system and thus the oxygen consumption and heart rate will average 50-70% of maximal values, which is a similar intensity as jogging, but without the jarring of foot strike.

Conditions

Sarcopenia; Cardiovascular Risk Factor

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Exercise and Pomegranate Juice

Exercise training with daily consumption of pomegranate juice containing polyphenols

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Inertial Load Cycling Training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Each session of training will require a total of 15 min with the total time actually exercising of only 60-120 sec. The first week will consist of performing 15 'sprints' on the ILE, beginning each sprint with 56 sec of rest. During week 2-5, subjects will rest 41 sec between sprints, completing 20 bouts. Finally, during weeks 6-10, subjects will take 26 s rest between sprints and complete 30 bouts).

Pomegranate Juice

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily for duration of study.

Exercise and Placebo

Exercise training with daily consumption of pomegranate juice with polyphenols removed

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

Inertial Load Cycling Training

Intervention Type: OTHER

Each session of training will require a total of 15 min with the total time actually exercising of only 60-120 sec. The first week will consist of performing 15 'sprints' on the ILE, beginning each sprint with 56 sec of rest. During week 2-5, subjects will rest 41 sec between sprints, completing 20 bouts. Finally, during weeks 6-10, subjects will take 26 s rest between sprints and complete 30 bouts).

Placebo

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily, that has had the polyphenols removed.

Interventions

Inertial Load Cycling Training

Each session of training will require a total of 15 min with the total time actually exercising of only 60-120 sec. The first week will consist of performing 15 'sprints' on the ILE, beginning each sprint with 56 sec of rest. During week 2-5, subjects will rest 41 sec between sprints, completing 20 bouts. Finally, during weeks 6-10, subjects will take 26 s rest between sprints and complete 30 bouts).

Intervention Type: OTHER

Pomegranate Juice

Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily for duration of study.

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Placebo

Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily, that has had the polyphenols removed.

Intervention Type: DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Other Intervention Names

High intensity interval training

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 50-70 year old male and females

Exclusion Criteria

• not currently exercising regularly
• meets criteria for MRI scanning at Imaging Research Center at UT Austin
• history of heart disease
• knee/hip joint problems
• determination by the physician monitoring pre inclusion stress test

• Minimum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 70 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

POM Wonderful LLC

INDUSTRY

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Texas at Austin

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Edward F Coyle, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

UT Austin

Locations

Human Performance Laboratory

Austin, Texas, United States

Countries

United States

References

Allen JR, Satiroglu R, Fico B, Tanaka H, Vardarli E, Luci JJ, Coyle EF. Inertial Load Power Cycling Training Increases Muscle Mass and Aerobic Power in Older Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Jun 1;53(6):1188-1193. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002588.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 33433149 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

2017-05-0092

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id