Aquatic and Dance Exercise Accompanied Lower Inflammation in Obese Older Women

The study appeared in the Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome. It is a randomized trial of 54 women aged 65 and older. They were assigned to one of four groups: a control group, aerobic aquatic exercise, aerobic dance exercise, or combined aerobic and resistance exercise.

The researchers found that groups changed differently over time in body weight, body fat percentage, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and scores on the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K), a screening test of thinking and memory. IL-6 is a signalling protein linked to inflammation. The aquatic and dance groups both showed significant reductions in body weight and body fat percentage. Fat-free mass, which is everything in the body that is not fat, increased only in the aquatic group.

The authors also report increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that supports nerve cells. They conclude that moderate-intensity aquatic and dance-based aerobic exercise over 12 weeks improved both metabolic health and cognitive function in these women. They say it was accompanied by reductions in IL-6 and increases in BDNF.

The word "accompanied" matters. The trial is small. It also does not address joint comfort or how easy each activity is to keep up.

What to watch next

Larger and longer trials, and the full paper's detail on the combined exercise group and on how much each measure changed.

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