Impact of whole body electromyostimulation on cardiometabolic risk factors in older women with sarcopenic obesity: the randomized controlled FORMOsA-sarcopenic obesity study

Abstract

BackgroundSarcopenic obesity (SO) is characterized by a combination of low muscle and high fat mass with an additive negative effect of both conditions on cardiometabolic risk. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of whole-body electromyostimulation (WB-EMS) on the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in community-dwelling women aged ≥70 years with SO.MethodsThe study was conducted in an ambulatory university setting. Seventy-five community-dwelling women aged ≥70 years with SO living in Northern Bavaria, Germany, were randomly allocated to either 6 months of WB-EMS application with (WB-EMS&P) or without (WB-EMS) dietary supplementation (150 kcal/day, 56% protein) or a non-training control group (CG). WB-EMS included one session of 20 min (85 Hz, 350 μs, 4 s of strain–4 s of rest) per week with moderate-to-high intensity. The primary study endpoint was the MetS Z-score with the components waist circumference (WC), mean arterial pressure (MAP), triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C); secondary study endpoints were changes in these determining variables.ResultsMetS Z-score decreased in both groups; however, changes compared with the CG were significant (P=0.001) in the WB-EMS&P group only. On analyzing the components of the MetS, significant positive effects for both WB-EMS groups (P≤0.038) were identified for MAP, while the WB-EMS group significantly differed for WC (P=0.036), and the WB-EMS&P group significantly differed for HDL-C (P=0.006) from the CG. No significant differences were observed between the WB-EMS groups.ConclusionThe study clearly confirms the favorable effect of WB-EMS application on the MetS in community-dwelling women aged ≥70 years with SO. However, protein-enriched supplements did not increase effects of WB-EMS alone. In summary, we considered this novel technology an effective and safe method to prevent cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases in older women unable or unwilling to exercise conventionally.

Effects of different exercise training programs on body composition: A randomized control trial

“…Whole‐body electromyostimulation training is able to stimulate all the main muscle groups with dedicated intensity simultaneously and has become increasingly popular during the last decade. A total of 21 studies have investigated its influence on physical fitness and health in trained and untrained individuals, and in patients who cannot perform conventional modalities of exercise because of physical or mental illness . Most of these studies (n = 10) have examined the role of whole‐body electromyostimulation training on body composition parameters, showing that this training modality induced a generally decrease of FM and a generally increase of LM in (a) sedentary older men and women with sarcopenic obesity (all of them aged > 70 years old), (b) in sedentary older women with obesity (aged > 70 years old), (c) in moderately trained male runners, (d) in sedentary healthy men (aged 30‐50 years old), and (e) in moderately trained healthy women (aged > 55 years old) .…”

Association between sarcopenic obesity, muscle strength and risk of cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases in the elderly: A systematic review

“…The lipid profile is the most studied risk factor, being present in eleven articles. Of these, eight were performed in Asian elderly individuals [7,9,10,16,17,22,23,24] and only three in non-Asian individuals (the USA, Germany and Brazil) [12,25,26]. However, none of the studies analyzed the lipid profile as their main objective, which limits the conclusions about their results.…”

“…However, none of the studies analyzed the lipid profile as their main objective, which limits the conclusions about their results. Changes in the lipid profile were characterized by high levels of total cholesterol [24], triglycerides [10,17,23,24] and reduced high-density lipoprotein [10,17,[23][24][25]. Studies evaluating the lipid profile of the elderly used the following diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia: the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps muscle adjusted by the Body Mass (BM) through a CT and a height-adjusted MM, and the BM assessed through a DXA and a BIA.…”

“…The association between vitamin D deficiency and various noncommunicable diseases, especially CVD and DM, as well as their predisposing factors, such as MS and IR, has been explored in the literature [17,23]. Two studies demonstrated the relationship between vitamin D and SO [17,23], all identified that individuals with SO of both sexes have vitamin D deficiency assessed by serum 25 [OH] D levels. According to Hwang et al [17], the 25 [OH] D levels were positively correlated with the amount of lean mass for both sexes and negatively correlated with VF in men.…”

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“…WB-EMS stimulates all main muscle groups simultaneously during a moderate exercise and can be considered as a time-efficient option to high-intensity resistance exercise improving the general strength (Wolfgang . Furthermore, WB-EMS affects positively the body composition and fitness parameters by enhancing the energy expenditure and by improving the isometric strength (Boccia et al, 2017;Maggioni et al, 2010), and it has been observed to be an effective method for cardio-metabolic risk factors prevention in previous studies (Wolfgang Kemmler, Kohl, Freiberger, Sieber, & von Stengel, 2018;Wittmann et al, 2016).…”