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Abstract
There are no studies available that portray insulin sensitivity and β-cell function in ageing sprint-trained athletes. We compared male young and master sprint-trained athletes to endurance-trained and untrained individuals. We hypothesised that ageing sprint-trained athletes would preserve insulin sensitivity and β-cell function at a level similar to that of endurance-trained peers and better than in untrained individuals. We showed the associations between age and parameters derived from the updated Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA2 model) in 52 sprint-trained track and field athletes (aged 20−90 years), 85 endurance runners (20−80 years) and 55 untrained individuals (20−70 years). Fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin sensitivity and β-cell function were not associated with age in sprint-trained athletes. These variables remained relatively stable across a wide range of age and comparable to those observed in endurance-trained athletes. In contrast, the untrained group showed considerable age-related increase in fasting insulin and β-cell activity and a strong decrease in insulin sensitivity compared to both athletic groups. HOMA2 parameters were significantly related to maximal oxygen in the combined group of participants. In summary, chronic training based on a “sprint model” of physical activity, that contains mixed exercise, seems to be effective in maintaining normal insulin sensitivity with ageing.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the coaches and the athletes for their full cooperation. This work was funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education from financial resources destined for scientific activity in years 2010–2011 (application and grant number: N N404 191536).
The authors do not report any potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.