Interaction of Vitamin D and Calcium With High-Intensity Circuit Training on BDNF and Fat Percentage of Overweight Elderly

The present study aimed to investigate the interaction effects of vitamin D and calcium, and High-Intensity Circuit Training (HICT) on BDNF and fat percentage of overweight elderly.

Thirty-two healthy older women were randomly divided into four Training + Supplementation, Training + Placebo, Supplementation, and Control groups. The training protocol performed three sessions per week for eight weeks. The Supplementation groups consumed 1,000 mg of calcium-effervescent tablet daily and 50,000 IU of vitamin D per week.

The results showed that the body fat percentage in the Training + Supplementation group decreased significantly compared with Supplementation (p = 0.001), Control (p = 0.001), and Training + Placebo (p = 0.045) groups. Moreover, the fat percentage in the Training + Placebo group decreased significantly compared with the Control group (p = 0.001). However, there were no significant differences between the Training + Placebo and Supplementation groups in body fat percentage. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in fat percentage in the Supplementation group compared with the Control group (p = 0.047). BDNF in the Training + Supplementation group had a significant increase compared with the Supplementation (p = 0.002) and Control (p = 0.001) groups but had no significant difference compared with the Training + Placebo (p = 0.085) group. Moreover, there was a significant increase in BDNF in the Training + Placebo group compared with Control (p = 0.003) and Supplementation (p = 0.01) groups. In contrast, no significant difference was observed between Supplementation and Control (p = 0.985) groups.  

Overall, the interaction of training and supplementation showed a significant decrease in the body fat percentage and a significant increase in BDNF in overweight elderly.