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One of the key ingredients to living well into one’s golden years is the ability to physically get around. And although exercise is a good prescription, research finds that the genes people are born with strongly determine how fit they stay as they age.
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University of Florida researchers, along with experts at Wake Forest University, find that older people with specific versions of a gene are able to benefit more from exercise than other seniors who expend the same energy but have a different genotype. Doctors studied nearly three-thousand participants, ages 70 (seventy) to 79 (seventy-nine), for four years. Overall, the seniors who engaged in significant physical exercise such as walking, biking and running preserved their mobility longer than their couch potato peers. But the exercisers who had genotypes known as “DD” and “ID” experienced the lowest rate of mobility loss, compared with those with the “II” (ii) gene, who developed movement problems at a forty-five percent higher rate.
Dr. Marco Pahor / UF Aging Expert:
“It is very rare that older people with certain genes are just healthier. What is, what we found is really there is an interaction between exercise and genes. So those who exercise and have a certain level of genes experience greater benefit than others.”
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Experts say that decreased movement, lack of muscle strength and a drop in aerobic ability are common aspects of aging. And with a third of all seniors having trouble walking a quarter of a mile, quality of life is greatly influenced. But researchers do point out that regardless of genes, exercise can decrease the development of substantial physical limitations. As for the non-exercisers, genes didn’t seem to make any difference in physical function.
Dr. Marco Pahor / UF Aging Expert:
“What we want to understand in the future is if we can tailor the type of exercise to the type of genes. Whether for example walking is better than weightlifting in some people.”
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From the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Eva Egensteiner
