3.6. Strength and Limitations
INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE
One strength of this trial is the variety of assessments of inflammatory markers in serum, on gene expression level as well as in response to LPS exposure, which allowed us to have a differentiated evaluation of the inflammatory response in old adults. Furthermore, adherence to the exercise and dietary interventions was high in both the protein and the protein + omega-3 group [Limitations of our study are the small sample size and the relatively short intervention time. However, this analysis was a pilot trial using an explorative approach to determine combined effects of a dietary and exercise intervention on inflammation in community-dwelling old adults. The triple intervention of exercise, whey/protein enrichment and omega-3 supplementation, might impede the interpretation of the results, since all of them are associated with anti-inflammatory effects. However, we used a three-arm study design to distinguish the separate effects of the dietary interventions.