The calciotropic hormone response to omega-3 supple-mentation during long-term weight-bearing exercise training in...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of ingestion of omega-3 (n-3) and aerobic exercise intervention on the calcium regulating hormones in healthy postmenopausal women. To this end, 56 healthy sedentary postmenopausal women with mean age 57.7 ± 3.5 yrs participated in this study. Participants were randomly divided into exercise plus supple-ment (E+S; n = 14), exercise (E; n = 14), supplement (S; n = 14) and control (Con, n = 14) groups. The subjects in E+S and E groups performed aerobic exercise training (walking and jog-ging) up to 65% of exercise HRmax, three times a week for 16 weeks. Subjects in E+S and S groups were asked to consume 1000 mg/d omega-3 for 16 weeks. The blood ionized Calcium (Ca(+2)), Parathyroid hormone (PTH), estrogen and Calcitonin (CT) were measured before and after 16 weeks of exercise training. Results indicated that consuming 1000 mg·day(-1) omega-3 during 16 weeks and or the aerobic exercise, significantly increased CT (p = 0.001) in E+S, E and S groups and significantly decreased PTH (p = 0.001) levels in E+S and E groups, also significantly increased estrogen (p = 0.024) levels in E+S and E groups, but had no significant effects on blood Ca(+2) (p = 0.619) levels. The results of present study demonstrate that omega-3 in combination with regular aerobic exercise training have significant effects on serum CT, estrogen and PTH in non-athletic post-menopausal women, suggesting that participating in moderate intensity weight-bearing exercise and incorporating sources of omega-3 in the diet a possible intervention to help slow the loss of bone that occurs following menopause. Key pointsLong-term weight-bearing exercise was shown to prove positive effects on bone metabolism.Serum calciotropic hormone levels and Ca(+2) can be affected by exercise intensity as well as dura-tion.There is a good relationship between dietary omega-3 (n-3) and bone metabolism in post-menopausal women.Omega-3 in combination with long-term weight-bearing exercise training has significant effects on serum calciotropic hormone levels in non-athlete post-menopausal women.