Purpose: We aimed to determine the effects of 12 weeks of soy milk consumption combined with resistance training (RT) on body composition, physical performance, and skeletal muscle regulatory markers in older men. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 60 healthy elderly men (age = 65.63 ± 3.16 years) were randomly assigned to four groups: resistance training (RT; n =  15), soy milk consumption (SMC; n  =  15), resistance training + soy milk (RSM; n = 15), and control (CON; n  =  15) groups. The study was double-blind for the soy milk/placebo. Participants in RT and RSM groups performed resistance training (3 times/week) for 12 weeks. Participants in the SMC and RSM groups consumed 240 mL of soy milk daily. Body composition [body mass (BM), body fat percent (BFP), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and fat mass (FM)], physical performance [upper body strength (UBS), lower body strength (LBS), VO2max, upper anaerobic power, lower anaerobic power, and handgrip strength], and serum markers [follistatin, myostatin, myostatin-follistatin ratio (MFR), and growth and differentiation factor 11 (GDF11)] were evaluated before and after interventions. Results: All 3 interventions significantly (p < 0.05) increased serum follistatin concentrations (RT = 1.7%, SMC = 2.9%, RSM = 7.8%) and decreased serum myostatin (RT = −1.3% SMC = −5.4%, RSM = −0.5%) and GDF11 concentrations (RT = −1.4%, SMC = −1.4%, RSM = -9.0%), and MFR (RT = −2.6%, SMC = −3.2%, RSM = −12%). In addition, we observed significant reduction in all 3 intervention groups in BFP (RT = −3.6%, SMC = −1.4%, RSM = −6.0%), WHR (RT = −2.2%, SMC = −2.1%, RSM = −4.3%), and FM (RT = −9.6%, SMC = −3.8%, RSM = −11.0%). Moreover, results found significant increase only in RT and RSM groups for muscle mass (RT = 3.8% and RSM = 11.8%), UBS (RT = 10.9% and RSM = 21.8%), LBS (RT = 4.3% and RSM = 7.8%), upper anaerobic power (RT = 7.8% and RSM = 10.3%), and lower anaerobic power (RT = 4.6% and RSM = 8.9%). Handgrip strength were significantly increased in all 3 intervention groups (RT = 7.0%, SMC = 6.9%, RSM = 43.0%). VO2max significantly increased only in RSM (1.7%) after 12 weeks of intervention. Additionally, significant differences were observed between the changes for all variables in the RSM group compared to RT, SMC, and CON groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: There were synergistic effects of soy milk and RT for skeletal muscle regulatory markers, body composition, and physical performance. Results of the present study support the importance of soy milk in conjunction with RT for older men.

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Background. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, is the most common reason of liver disorders that can be controlled by dieting and regular physical activity. Objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic continuous training on serum levels of myonectin, insulin resistance and liver enzymes in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods. Thirty-four male Wistar rats (6-8 weeks old) were randomly assigned into two groups: normal diet (N = 9) and high-fat diet (N = 25). Through 12-week high-fat diet, induction of fatty liver was performed. In order to confirm non-alcoholic fatty liver induction, seven rats fed with high-fat diet were tested. The 18 remaining rats were randomly assigned to two groups: high-fat diet plus sedentary activity (n = 9) and high-fat diet plus aerobic continuous training (n = 9). The aerobic group has performed running on a treadmill at the intensity of 50-60% VO2max, for eight weeks and five sessions per week. The results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc tests at the statistical significance level of p<0.05. Results. The significant body weight increase induced by high-fat diet was controlled by aerobic continuous training (p<0.05). The serum levels of myonectin, insulin, glucose, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase enzymes and insulin resistance improved significantly after eight weeks of aerobic continuous training (p<0.05). Conclusion. It seems that aerobic continuous training can improve insulin resistance and liver enzymes by reducing serum myonectin levels in rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.