The percentage of the American population who are 65 years old or older is
rapidly increasing, especially the proportion of women. It is becoming crucial to
encourage lifestyle behaviors that will enable senior women to remain in optimal
health. Following the 1990 Dietary Guidelines' recommendations to limit fat intake
and consume adequate amounts of dietary fiber has been shown to positively impact
longevity and health status in the elderly by decreasing risk factors for chronic
diseases. An expected outcome of engaging in regular exercise is a reduction in
body fat, which is also associated with a lowered incidence of several chronic
illnesses. However, the literature clearly indicates that nutritional quality of the diet
and involvement in regular exercise decrease with increasing age. There is evidence that, with the adoption of one health enhancing behavior, there is a greater tendency
to engage in other health promoting behaviors, but little data exist on the healthseeking
behaviors of older adults.
The purpose of this study was to ascertain if there were identifiable
differences between self-defined exercising and self-defined non-exercising elderly
women with respect to their nutrient intake, food sources of dietary fat and fiber,
dietary change behavior, and body composition parameters, considering their age
and education and income levels. The objective was to determine whether those
women who had consciously undertaken a regular exercise program would also have
higher micronutrient intakes, make lower fat and higher fiber food choices, report
having made more dietary changes in the direction of the 1990 Dietary Guidelines,
and have leaner body compositions than those who had not undertaken such a
program.
Thirty-three elderly women self-reported exercisers (mean age 74.1 years)
and 30 self-reported non-exercisers (mean age 71.3 years) were enrolled in a 14
week study. Exercisers were defined as those who reported having engaged in a
regular program of planned exercise a minimum of 15 minutes per session, 2 times
per week, for at least the last year, and non-exercisers were those who had not.
They kept three, 7-day food records at 5 week intervals. Nutrient intake was
estimated from 9 days of food records, 3 predetermined days from each recording
period, using the Food Processor n software. Dietary intakes were analyzed for
energy, macronutrients, dietary fiber, and selected micronutrients. Food sources of dietary fat and fiber were determined using a food categorization adapted from
Popkin and coworkers (1989). Information concerning dietary change behavior,
obtained from questionnaire responses, was compared between groups using chisquare
tests. Body composition, assessed through repeat measurements during each
dietary recording period, included determination of percent body fat through
skinfolds, waist-to-hip-ratio and body mass index. Average 9-day nutrient intakes
and anthropometric measures were compared between groups using t-tests or Mann-
Whitney U tests.
Both elderly women exercisers and non-exercisers had similar energy,
macronutrient, and dietary fiber intakes based on 9-day means. Their total fat
intakes, expressed in grams and as percentages of energy, were not significantly
different. Both groups consumed a lower percentage of their daily kcalories as total
fat (32%) compared with national surveys of women over 65 (36%). Exercisers
consumed more total vitamin A (p=.03) and carotene (p=.00) than the non-exercising
women. A great proportion of both groups did not meet 75 % of the
Recommended Dietary Allowances for calcium and zinc. A larger proportion of the
exercisers than the non-exercisers reported using lower fat cheese (p=.02) and green
and yellow vegetables (p=.03), which partially explained their higher total vitamin
A and carotene intakes. Exercisers obtained less of their total fat intake from lower
fat milk (p=.02) and more of their fat intake from lower fat lunch meats (p=.04)
than the non-exercisers. The categories of legumes (p=.02) and lower fiber
vegetables (p=.05) supplied greater amounts of dietary fiber for the exercisers compared with the non-exercisers. When asked about dietary changes made over
the past decade, a greater percentage of the exercisers than non-exercisers reported
having decreased red meat intake (p=.05) and increased consumption of cereals
(p=.05) and legumes (p=.00). Actual intake data showed that the legume food
category contributed more dietary fiber to the diets of the exercisers than the non-exercisers
(p=.02).
No differences were found in body fat measures between the exercisers and
non-exercisers. The lack of observed differences between the two groups reinforces
what other researchers have found, that a large number of factors influence body
composition, of which exercise is only one. More research is needed to distinguish
the interactions of age, energy intake, and physical activity on the body fatness of
elderly women, as well as the most accurate instruments for assessing body
composition for this age group.
Exercise participation among elderly women in this study appeared to be
associated with several positive dietary behaviors. Elderly women exercisers
compared to non-exercisers made food choices leading to higher total vitamin A and
carotene intakes, and also reported making more changes in food consumption
behaviors in the direction of current dietary recommendations. These observed
outcomes provide support for designing health-promotion programs for elderly
women which include both nutrition education and exercise components. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/27120 |
| Date | 15 March 1993 |
| Creators | Bell, Kathleen A. |
| Contributors | Georgiou, Constance C. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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