Only one type of exercise may help older adults shed body fat without losing muscle

While almost every form of exercise supports body fat loss, not all types can also protect the muscle mass that often declines with age, according to new findings.

The latest study suggests HIIT may be best for preserving lean muscle, challenging the idea that any exercise will do as we age.

Researchers reached this conclusion after tracking healthy older adults as they took on high, moderate and low-intensity training over six months.

While all three approaches led to modest reductions in fat, only high-intensity interval training allowed participants to hold onto their lean muscle, according to an exercise physiologist at UniSC, Dr Grace Rose, who led the study.

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Participants following the moderate-intensity regimen saw a drop in their fat mass, but they also saw a slight drop in muscle mass alongside it.

Meanwhile, both the moderate and high-intensity groups saw improvements in the distribution of fat around their midsection.

Dr Rose explained that the distinction matters cause how body composition shifts over time plays an important role in the onset and progression of chronic disease in later life.

Why does HIIT stand apart?

The HIIT involved in the study involved short, intense bursts of effort - intense enough to make talking difficult - interspersed with recovery periods.

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Study co-author and UniSC Associate Professor Mia Schaumberg suggested the stop-start intensity plays a key role here. The added strain on the muscle may send a strong signal to the body to preserve tissue, rather than break it down.

It comes after separate research pointed to an additional factor in weight management that is frequently overlooked: not how much protein post-menopausal women eat, but where it comes from.

Research published in the journal Menopause discovered that women who swap meat and dairy protein for plant-based sources, like beans and lentils, lose a significant amount of weight without changing how much they eat.

Those who switched to legumes and whole grains in particular saw a notable improvement in their body weight.

The findings showed that for roughly every 16 grams of animal protein cut and 13 grams of plant protein added per day, participants lost around one kilogram.

This could be down to plant proteins being lower in calories but higher in fibre, which supports satiety. But plant protein also has lower methionine, which has been linked to improved fat metabolism.

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