Intervention mixing yoga, Mediterranean diet shows benefits in older adults

Key takeaways:

• The intervention led to greater gait and balance in older adults, as well as improvements in limbs.
• Further research is needed because improvements could not be tied specifically to either yoga or diet changes.

An intervention combining yoga and the Mediterranean diet improved nutrition, balance and body strength in community-dwelling older adults, according to results a randomized controlled trial published in Nutrients.

Aging in older adults can often lead to changes in gait and functionality, which, in turn, lead to an increased risk for falls and other health concerns, as well as decreases in quality of life, flexibility and muscle strength, María del Carmen Carcelén-Fraile, PhD, from the department of education and psychology at the University of Atlántico Medio in Spain, and colleagues wrote.

“Therefore, it is necessary to implement a series of strategies that contribute to maintaining and/or improving the changes that aging brings with it,” they added.

The researchers developed a 12-week intervention where participants aged 65 years or older underwent 60-minute yoga sessions twice a week and adhered to the Mediterranean diet program.

The researchers noted that yoga — which has been tied to improvements in mental health and well-being — was chosen as an exercise option “due to its accessibility, adaptability, and comprehensive benefits.”

As part of the meal plan, carbohydrates, fats and proteins accounted for 50%, 35% and 15% of participants’ daily intake, respectively. The diet also included plant-based foods, whole grains, virgin olive oil and poultry and limited foods like red meat, processed meats and bread.

The participants (63% women) were randomly assigned to either the intervention (n = 57) or a control group (n = 59), where their daily activity and diets remained unchanged.

The study’s main outcomes were changes in nutritional status, flexibility, muscle strength, balance and strength in the lower limbs.

Overall, there was a significant difference in adherence to the Mediterranean diet (Cohen’s d = 2.18) and nutritional status (Cohen’s d = 0.02) in the intervention group.

The researchers found that participants in the intervention group had greater balance (Cohen’s d = 0.41) and gait (Cohen’s d = 0.44) vs. the control group.

In addition, participants in the intervention group also had significant improvements in:

• right arm use (Cohen’s d = 0.43);
• left arm use (Cohen’s d = 0.64);
• right perineum (Cohen’s d = 0.42);
• left leg use (Cohen’s d = 0.37);
• grip strength (Cohen’s d = 0.39); and
• lower body strength (Cohen’s d = 0.81).

“These results have important clinical implications for this population, not only regarding the improvements achieved by our intervention but also due to the well-known benefits of physical exercise on various aspects of mental and physical health,” Carcelén-Fraile and colleagues wrote. “These improvements in balance and gait suggest a reduction in the risk of falls.”

They added that the use of the Mediterranean diet in the intervention was also important because the dietary pattern has shown to be beneficial for body composition and weight control.

However, there were some limitations. For example, the researchers examined only the short-term impacts of the intervention. Additionally, they could not determine which improvements specifically came from exercise or dietary changes due to the combined nature of the intervention.

“In future research, it would be beneficial to implement an experimental design that includes separate groups for each intervention, thus allowing a more precise and detailed evaluation of the causal effects of each component,” they wrote.

Carcelén-Fraile and colleagues concluded that the findings support the need for public policies that promote exercise and healthy diets among older adults “as part of disease prevention and health promotion strategies.”