Reversing Muscle Loss With Exercise Training and Daily Consumption of Pomegranate Juice

A research study regarding the body's response to several weeks of training using short sprints and pomegranate juice supplementation

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sarcopenia; Cardiovascular Risk Factor
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Inertial Load Cycling Training; Dietary supplement: Pomegranate Juice; Dietary supplement: Placebo

Detailed Description

The investigators have shown that chronic pomegranate juice consumption in both young untrained and weight-trained men partially protects muscles against the damage done from performing high intensity eccentric contractions and that it accelerates recovery of function. Clearly, skeletal muscle is a target for some of the healthful molecules in pomegranate juice. However, the most widespread and serious ailment to strike skeletal muscle is sarcopenia (e.g.; loss of muscle mass and becoming 'frail') with age due predominantly to a loss of 'fast-twitch' muscle fibers. Since adults rarely sprint or exert maximal force or power, they rarely use their fast-twitch muscle fibers, which thus degenerate greatly with age. Usually, about one-half of a person's muscle fibers are fast-twitch. It is the investigators' hypothesis that the combination of power exercise training and pomegranate juice supplementation (POM) over 10 weeks, will elicit greater improvements in maximal muscular power and functional physical abilities compared to power training with a placebo. The investigators also will identify changes in size and composition of leg muscles (MRI) and of the whole body (DEXA). The investigators simple logic is that muscles deteriorate with age because they are 'turned-off' and that exercise training can turn them 'back-on', but in order for the muscle fibers to fully repair when turned 'back-on' with exercise, they might benefit from agents known to foster repair, such as the natural polyphenols in pomegranate juice. It has recently been found that polyphenols are metabolized into urolithins which improve muscle cell function due to increased mitophagy. The investigators aim to determine if power training and pomegranate juice have additive effects in promoting improvements of muscle function and mass in men and women age 50-70 y.

A second purpose is to include a cardio-metabolic exercise training stimulus into the workout without compromising the efficacy of the power training. One feature of cardio-metabolic training is an increase in muscle mitochondria and oxygen utilization which might improve muscle fiber repair. The 'power training' will consist of maximal effort 4 sec sprints on a cycle ergometer with no added resistance with the only load being that of the inertia of the flywheel as the subject accelerates from 0 to their maximal RPM's while cycling (100-150 RPM)('inertial load ergometer'; ILE). The power training will be accomplished by having the subject complete 15-30 sprints in a 15 min period. During the training bouts, initially the subjects will rest 56 s between sprints (week 1- complete 15 sprints in each15 min bout), and then 41 s between sprints (weeks 2-5 and complete 20 sprints) and finally 26 s between sprints (weeks 6-10 and complete 30 sprints). The shorter rest periods (41 s and 26 s) will result in incomplete recovery of the cardio-respiratory system and thus the oxygen consumption and heart rate will average 50-70% of maximal values, which is a similar intensity as jogging, but without the jarring of foot strike.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Austin, Texas, United States, 78712
      • Human Performance Laboratory

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 50 years to 70 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 50-70 year old male and females

Exclusion Criteria:

• not currently exercising regularly
• meets criteria for MRI scanning at Imaging Research Center at UT Austin
• history of heart disease
• knee/hip joint problems
• determination by the physician monitoring pre inclusion stress test

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: PARALLEL
• Masking: DOUBLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Exercise and Pomegranate Juice; Exercise training with daily consumption of pomegranate juice containing polyphenols	Other: Inertial Load Cycling Training; Each session of training will require a total of 15 min with the total time actually exercising of only 60-120 sec. The first week will consist of performing 15 'sprints' on the ILE, beginning each sprint with 56 sec of rest. During week 2-5, subjects will rest 41 sec between sprints, completing 20 bouts. Finally, during weeks 6-10, subjects will take 26 s rest between sprints and complete 30 bouts).; Other Names: High intensity interval training; Dietary supplement: Pomegranate Juice; Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily for duration of study.
PLACEBO_COMPARATOR: Exercise and Placebo; Exercise training with daily consumption of pomegranate juice with polyphenols removed	Other: Inertial Load Cycling Training; Each session of training will require a total of 15 min with the total time actually exercising of only 60-120 sec. The first week will consist of performing 15 'sprints' on the ILE, beginning each sprint with 56 sec of rest. During week 2-5, subjects will rest 41 sec between sprints, completing 20 bouts. Finally, during weeks 6-10, subjects will take 26 s rest between sprints and complete 30 bouts).; Other Names: High intensity interval training; Dietary supplement: Placebo; Subjects will consume 8oz of pomegranate juice daily, that has had the polyphenols removed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in muscle volume	Volume of the thigh musculature as determined by MRI analysis.	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in sarcopenia obesity	Intermuscular adipose tissue infiltration as measured by MRI	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in aerobic capacity	VO2 Max on a cycle ergometer	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in anaerobic capacity	The percent of maximal aerobic capacity that a subject can exercise at while not building up blood lactate	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in muscle fatigue	Muscle aerobic stress as measured by near infrared spectroscopy	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in body composition	Fat and fat free regional and total mass as measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in maximal power production	The ability to produce power as determined on the cycle ergometer and measured in watts	Baseline to 11 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in cardiovascular risk factors	Flow mediated dilation and pulse wave velocity	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in urolithins	The ability to breakdown the beneficial components of pomegranate juice into urolithins is different among individuals	Baseline, 2 hrs after consuming first pomegranate or placebo supplement
Change in Microbiome	The change in the gut microbiota as a result of supplementation with pomegranate juice.	Baseline, week 10 and week 15
Change in maximal isometric strength	The maximal ability to push against a immovable object as measured in the thigh musculature	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in functional tests of living	Movement tasks specific to the daily life of the elderly	Baseline to 11 weeks
Change in isokinetic torque	The subject will exert maximal leg extension at two speeds and the maximal torque generated will be quantified	Baseline to 11 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Texas at Austin
• Collaborators: POM Wonderful LLC
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Edward F Coyle, PhD, UT Austin

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Allen JR, Satiroglu R, Fico B, Tanaka H, Vardarli E, Luci JJ, Coyle EF. Inertial Load Power Cycling Training Increases Muscle Mass and Aerobic Power in Older Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Jun 1;53(6):1188-1193. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002588.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): November 7, 2017
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 15, 2018
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): December 15, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 12, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 18, 2017
• First Posted (ACTUAL): August 23, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): February 20, 2019
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 19, 2019
• Last Verified: February 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Pomegranate Juice; Functional Tasks of Living
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neuromuscular Manifestations; Pathological Conditions, Anatomical; Muscular Atrophy; Atrophy; Sarcopenia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017-05-0092

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No