Continuing with common age related problems (where we started with osteoporosis), now let’s look at sarcopenia. This is the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. It also affects performance. By that it’s not just training, but functional movement like standing up and sitting down too. These adverse conditions can reduce the quality of life for the elderly, where they become reliant on the care of others and can’t remain active and maintain their independence.
One of the reasons sarcopenia causes issues is weaker muscles lead to more falls. This in turn can lead to injuries, and if osteoporosis is also present a higher risk of fractures. Falls are associated with a greater functional decline, a restriction of physical activity and social withdrawal (partly down to the fear of falling again, so they avoid going out), anxiety and depression.
Prevention?
What can we do to combat this? Having more muscle mass is protective and results in better functional movement. By maintaining as much muscle as possible (along with good bone health) can mean if someone does have a fall they recover better, and it isn’t the start of a rapid decline.
As we age we develop anabolic resistance, which is when our muscle has a lower response to stimuli. Resistance training and protein intake are important to stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS) for the retention (or growth) of muscles. We want MPS to be greater than MPB – breakdown. One study summarised; Resistance exercise combined with amino acid ingestion elicits the greatest anabolic response and may assist elderly in producing a ‘youthful’ muscle protein synthetic response provided sufficient protein is ingested following exercise.
My last post on leucine went into detail about how older adults required a larger amount of protein (and leucine) to trigger MPS. Aim for a minimum of 0.6g per kg of bodyweight in at least one meal a day.
Supplements
Fish oil supplementation is shown to help increase muscle sensitivity in the elderly. One study which had 3.4g of EPA/DHA a day (this is a huge dose) slowed the normal decline in muscle mass and function. Aim for a minimum of 2g of fish oil a day, with doses as high as 12g/d being ok.
Next is the other wonder supplement that is creatine. In one study the group which supplemented with creatine showed a lower incidence of sarcopenia. A review on creatine use in older adults found it enhanced muscle gain, enhanced strength and functional performance. So the three main effects of sarcopenia! The standard dose is 5g per day.
It’s never too late to start making changes to protect your health and try and prevent age related conditions. Need help with this, send me a message.
References: Mac Nutrition Uni, Moore et al 2005, Breen & Phillips 2011, Smith et al 2015, Rodacki at al 2012, Devries & Phillips 2014, Gulano et al 2014, Tinetti & Williams 1998, Landi et al 2012
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