The basic characteristics of the study subjects are presented
in Table 1. There were no significant differences in age
between the middle-aged women and men. As expected, the
men were on average 11 and 8 cm taller and 15 and 13 kg
heavier, and had more fat-free mass , than the young and middle-aged
women, respectively (all p < 0.01). No significant differences
were observed in the BMI among the groups.