Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - Thursday October 1, 1998
Rincon provided exercise training to clinical research participants in an innovative study by Dr. Marc Hellerstein at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at San Francisco that combined exercise with testosterone replacement therapy and an anabolic agent, oxandrolone. In the study, which was presented at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva, participants gained an average of more than 15 pounds over eight weeks.
"Some felt good enough to go back to work, to start new relationships, all the things they had experienced before wasting," reported Rincon. Involuntary weight loss due to HIV is a problem for up to 50% of people living with HIV or AIDS. Nutritional therapies alone may be ineffective due to the altered metabolism caused by HIV.
The therapeutic portion of the study consisted of a comparison between a combination of a low "replacement dose" of testosterone (100 mg per week) plus a placebo pill, versus the replacement dose of testosterone plus a well tolerated anabolic agent (oxandrolone, 20 mg per day).
Oxandrolone is an oral anabolic medication that is used in the treatment of HIV-related weight loss and other disease-related wasting conditions to promote protein synthesis and weight gain.
For the exercise component, Rincon provided an hour-long progressive resistance exercise session, three times weekly, that consisted of six upper body exercises and three lower body exercises.
After eight weeks of the study treatment regimen, substantial gains in body weight, lean body mass and muscle strength were observed in both the placebo group and the oxandrolone group; however, the group that received oxandrolone had almost twice the gains of the placebo group.
The results of the Hellerstein study were so encouraging, Rincon has now developed a community-based model of the program to be piloted in San Francisco.
SOURCE: The Huff Fund
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