The advantages of physical exercise as a preventive strategy against NAFLD in postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence and severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) increase in women after menopause. This narrative review discusses the causes and consequences of NAFLD in postmenopausal women and describes how physical activity can contribute to its prevention. METHODS: The authors followed the narrative review method to perform a critical and objective analysis of the current knowledge on the topic. The Medical Subject Heading keywords 'physical exercise', 'menopause', 'hormone replacement therapy', 'estradiol' and 'NAFLD' were used to establish a conceptual framework. The databases used to collect relevant references included Medline and specialized high-impact journals. RESULTS: Higher visceral adiposity, higher rate of lipolysis in adipose tissue after oestrogen drop and changes in the expression of housekeeping proteins involved in hepatic lipid management are observed in women after menopause, contributing to NAFLD. Excessive liver steatosis leads to hepatic insulin resistance, oxidative stress and inflammation, accelerating NAFLD progression. Physical activity brings beneficial effects against several postmenopausal-associated complications, including NAFLD progression. Aerobic and resistance exercises partially counteract alterations induced by metabolic syndrome in sedentary postmenopausal women, impacting NAFLD progression and severity. CONCLUSIONS: With the increased global obesity epidemic in developing countries, NAFLD is becoming a severe problem with increased prevalence in women after menopause. Evidence shows that physical activity may delay NAFLD development and severity in postmenopausal women, although the prescription of age-appropriate physical activity programmes is advisable to assure the health benefits.

Combined Chair-Based Exercises Improve Functional Fitness, Mental Well-Being, Salivary Steroid Balance, and Anti-microbial Activity in Pre-frail Older Women.

INTRODUCTION: Regular exercise has long been shown to positively impact the immune system responsiveness and improve mental well-being (MWB). However, the putative links between biomarkers of mental health and immune efficiency in exercising subjects have been scarcely investigated. The aim of this study was to verify the effect of a 14-week combined chair-based exercise program (CEP) on salivary steroid hormones and anti-microbial proteins, functional fitness, and MWB indexes in pre-frail older women. METHODS: The participant women (82.8 4.6 years old; n = 32) were randomly divided into the exercising group (CEP, n = 17) and the non-exercising control group (CG, n = 15). The pre/post assessment included: (1) salivary anti-microbial proteins lysozyme; (Lys) and immunoglobulin-A (IgA); (2) salivary steroid hormones of testosterone (TT) and cortisol (COR); (3) functional fitness (gait speed, hand grip strength, and static balance); (4) MWB questionnaires (happiness, depression state, satisfaction with life, and stress). RESULTS: Significant differences with large Cohen's (d) effect sizes were found on increased salivary TT (p < 0.05; d = 0.60) after exercise intervention. The results revealed a decrease in IgA levels after CEP (p < 0.01, d = 0.30). The increase in subjective happiness levels (p < 0.05, d = 0.30) and decrease of stress perception (p < 0.01, d = 2.60) and depressive state (p < 0.05, d = 0.30) were found after intervention in the CEP group. Robust statistical differences in gait speed (p < 0.05; d = 0.60) and balance tests (p < 0.05; d = 0.80) were also found in the CEP group. In control, COR increased moderately (p < 0.05; d = 0.65) while no changes were found for the other indicators. Correlation analyses showed inter-dependence between pre-post variations of MWB, biochemical indexes, and fitness function (e.g., COR inverse correlation with hand grip strength and balance tests). CONCLUSION: The CEP program was able to improve functional-fitness performance, decrease feelings of stress, and increase happiness. The CEP also induced clinically relevant hormonal and immune responses, which suggests that chair exercises that combine muscular strength, balance, and gait speed training are promising interventions to improve physical and mental health of older pre-frail adults.

Emotional Well-Being and Cognitive Function Have Robust Relationship With Physical Frailty in Institutionalized Older Women.

INTRODUCTION: Frailty associated to core dimensions of psychological well-being (PwB) has appeared as a possible new frailty phenotype named psychological frailty, implying a parallel to physical frailty (PF). Very little is known about the associations between mental well-being, especially emotional, mood, and self-perception dimensions, and the frailty syndrome in institutionalized older populations. The present study aims to examine the interlink between the PF phenotype and the core dimensions of PwB in Portuguese institution-dwelling older women. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected. A total of 358 older women, aged 75 years or more, were recruited from four nursing homes within the city of Coimbra and asked to complete a sociodemographic and a general health assessment survey. The main PwB dimensions were assessed in all participants: (i) global cognitive status was assessed using The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Neuropsychology Test, (ii) self-perception was screened using the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and Global Self-Esteem Scale, (iii) CES-D of depression and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were used to screen mood states, and (iv) subjective happiness, satisfaction with life, and attitudes to aging psychometric rating scales were used to screen for emotional well-being. The syndrome of PF was assessed using Fried's PF phenotype that includes weight loss, weakness, slowness, exhaustion, and low physical activity (PA) level assessments. RESULTS: Frail older women had a poor score in all PwB outcomes, except for global self-esteem and satisfaction with life. A hierarchical regression model analysis showed that global cognitive status and emotional well-being of subjective happiness and attitude to aging showed a significant negative relationship with PF in both unadjusted and adjusted models (explaining 34 and 40% of variance, respectively). CONCLUSION: Emotional well-being and global cognitive performance are strongly associated with PF. Implementing active lifestyle interventions to improve positive psychological outcomes using geriatric assessments could assist in the older institutionalized patients' physical and mental health care.