Impact of 5-aminolevulinic acid with iron supplementation on exercise efficiency and home-based walking training achievement in older women

Abstract

A reduction in exercise efficiency with aging limits daily living activities. We examined whether 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) with sodium ferrous citrate (SFC) increased exercise efficiency and voluntary achievement of interval walking training (IWT) in older women. Ten women [65 ± 3(SD) yr] who had performed IWT for >12 mo and were currently performing IWT participated in this study. The study was conducted in a placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design. All subjects underwent two trials for 7 days each in which they performed IWT with ALA+SFC (100 and 115 mg/day, respectively) or placebo supplement intake (CNT), intermittently with a 2-wk washout period. Before and after each trial, subjects underwent a graded cycling test at 27.0°C atmospheric temperature and 50% relative humidity, and oxygen consumption rate, carbon dioxide production rate, and lactate concentration in plasma were measured. Furthermore, for the first 6 days of each trial, exercise intensity for IWT was measured by accelerometry. We found that, in the ALA+SFC trial, oxygen consumption rate and carbon dioxide production rate during graded cycling decreased by 12% (P < 0.001) and 11% (P = 0.001) at every workload, respectively, accompanied by a 16% reduction in lactate concentration in plasma (P < 0.001), although all remained unchanged in the CNT trial (P > 0.2). All of the reductions were significantly greater in the ALA+SFC than the CNT trial (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the training days, impulse, and time at fast walking were 42% (P = 0.028), 102% (P = 0.027), and 69% (P = 0.039) higher during the ALA+SFC than the CNT intake period, respectively. Thus ALA+SFC supplementation augmented exercise efficiency and thereby improved IWT achievement in older women.

Effects of 5-aminolevulinic acid supplementation on home-based walking training achievement in middle-aged depressive women: randomized, double-blind, crossover pilot study

“…As shown in Fig. 3 , training days, impulse, and time for 6 days in the ALA + SFC trial were significantly higher than those in the PLC trial with no carryover and period effects (Table 3 ), which are findings that are consistent with the previous study 15 . Regarding the mechanisms for the increased achievement for the ALA + SFC trial, since and were saved above the intensities ≥45 W during graded cycling exercise after supplement intake and since the increase in [Lac − ] p was significantly attenuated above the intensity, subjective feeling for fast walking might be improved due to reduced panting and muscle pain 27 , 28 , ultimately resulting in increases in impulse and time at fast walking in the trial.…”

“…Masuki et al . 15 reported similar results as in the present study in older women aged ~65 years old with no depression who had performed IWT for >12 months before participating in the study, assuming that their respiratory and [Lac − ] p responses to graded cycling exercise had reached a steady state. They suggested that the increases in , , and [Lac − ] p during the graded cycling test were attenuated in the ALA + SFC trial.…”

“…Regarding the mechanisms, they suggested that ALA + SFC supplementation improves mitochondrial functions to recover the age-associated decrease in transient O 2 utilization rates for aerobic ATP production 23 , 24 , as well as exercise efficiency determined as work per the total metabolic cost of exercise, to reduce the O 2 deficit at the onset of exercise. In the present study, although the subjects were ~10 years younger than those in the previous study, peak (Table 2 ) and probably mitochondrial function were reduced to a similar level as those in older subjects in the previous study 15 , which might have been caused by their lack of an exercise training habit and depression 25 , 26 . As a result, the same mechanisms likely worked in the ALA + SFC trial in the present study.…”

“…The composition of supplements (SBI ALApromo, Tokyo) is shown in Supplemental Table S1 . The dose of ALA phosphate (100 mg/day) was the same as in the previous study using older women with no depression 15 . SFC, as a source of the iron ion in the supplements, was used to enhance the final step of haeme biosynthesis by the ABCB6 transporter and ferrochelatase in mitochondria 41 .…”

“…On the other hand, Masuki et al . 15 recently examined the effects of oral supplementation of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) + sodium ferrous citrate (SFC), a precursor of haeme that composes complex IV in the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) 16 , 17 , on the voluntary achievement of high-intensity interval walking training (IWT) for 6 days in older women without depression and suggested that the achievement of the fast walking training time was enhanced by 69% in the experimental trial compared with the placebo trial. IWT is a home-based walking training programme that repeats more than 5 sets of fast and slow walking for 3 min each per day, which is equivalent to more than 70% and 40% of peak aerobic capacity ( O 2 peak ), respectively 18 – 20 .…”