Apples for Health- Study: Volunteers burn more calories

Study: Volunteers burn more calories

BALTIMORE, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Volunteers who tutored children burned twice as many calories as non-volunteers, U.S. researchers said.

The study, published in Journals of Gerontology, found the volunteers had double the level of activity doing household chores, exercising or recreating than that of non-volunteers.

The researchers surveyed and collected medical information for 71 Experience Corps Baltimore volunteers who tutored grade school children 15 hours per week and 150 from 1,400 participants enrolled in the Baltimore Woman's Health and Aging Studies.

Each year for three years, all those in the the study -- all black women over the age of 65 -- also filled out the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire as a measure of activity levels/calorie consumption.

"Although our original eight-month study also showed this increase, the fact that it was sustained for three years illustrates the potential for a sustainable, long-lasting lifestyle change," lead author Dr. Erwin Tan of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a statement.

Tan said the focus on black women was due to their preponderance in the two community groups from which the study participants were recruited but he said the results may be the same for all elderly.