Table 1.

Subject characteristics

		Young	Aged	Trained	Untrained
Age	(years)	23.2 ± 0.3#	65.1 ± 0.6	63.9 ± 0.8*	66.4 ± 0.9
Height	(cm)	183 ± 1	179 ± 1	180 ± 2	179 ± 2
Weight	(kg)	76.5 ± 1.5	79.2 ± 1.8	77.8 ± 2.1	80.7 ± 3.1
Fat mass	(%)	17.6 ± 0.8#	25.2 ± 1.3	20.6 ± 1.4*	29.7 ± 1.5
BMI	(kg m−2)	22.9 ± 0.4#	24.6 ± 0.4	24.0 ± 0.5	25.3 ± 0.6
	(l min−1)	3901 ± 100#	2928 ± 118	3286 ± 133*	2517 ± 132
	(ml min−1 kg−1)	51.2 ± 1.2#	37.1 ± 1.5	42.4 ± 1.5*	30.8 ± 1.7
Maximum heart rate	(beats min–1)	192 ± 2#	163 ± 2	167 ± 3	159 ± 4
Resting heart rate	(beats min–1)	58 ± 2	58 ± 2	55 ± 2*	64 ± 3
Resting	(l min−1)	253 ± 6	237 ± 6	238 ± 8	237 ± 11
Fasting plasma glucose	(mmol l−1)	5.1 ± 0.1	5.6 ± 0.1	5.7 ± 0.1	5.5 ± 0.2
120 min of plasma glucose	(mmol l−1)	5.5 ± 0.3	6.7 ± 0.4	6.0 ± 0.5	7.4 ± 0.5
Fasting plasma insulin	(pmol l−1)	43 ± 16	87 ± 35	78 ± 52	97 ± 47
120 min of plasma insulin	(pmol l−1)	108 ± 11	231 ± 48	145 ± 56	329 ± 74
Daily energy intake	(MJ)	11.0 ± 0.7	10.4 ± 0.5	11.1 ± 0.7	10.0 ± 0.6
Carbohydrate intake	(%)	49.8 ± 1.7	50.1 ± 1.6	52.6 ± 2.7	47.6 ± 1.7
Lipid intake	(%)	32.9 ± 1.6	29.9 ± 1.3	28.0 ± 2.2	31.7 ± 1.3
Protein intake	(%)	15.1 ± 0.7	16.1 ± 0.8	17.4 ± 1.4	14.8 ± 0.6
Alcohol intake	(%)	2.2 ± 0.8	3.9 ± 1.0	1.9 ± 0.8*	5.9 ± 1.7
Physical activity
Hard exercise	Days week–1	2.9 ± 0.3	2.6 ± 0.4	3.4 ± 0.4*	1.9 ± 0.5
	Hours occurrence–1	0.9 ± 0.2	0.9 ± 0.2	0.9 ± 0.1	1.0 ± 0.4
Moderate exercise	Days week–1	4.0 ± 0.5	3.3 ± 0.4	4.0 ± 0.6*	2.5 ± 0.5
	Hours occurrence–1	1.1 ± 0.2	1.1 ± 0.2	1.6 ± 0.4*	0.7 ± 0.2

, maximal oxygen uptake. Data are the mean ± SEM from 24 young recreationally active men, 14 middle-aged untrained men and 15 middle-aged trained men.

^*Significantly different from young untrained group (P < 0.05).

^#Significantly different from aged group (P < 0.05).