HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO YOU NEED TO CONSUME to help your aging muscles? Today I hope to answer that question while offering suggestions for boosting your protein levels through diet.
We begin with an observation from Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (/maɪˈmɒnɪdiːz/) and also referred to by the acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם).
This medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher became one of the most influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He also served as an astronomer and physician to the Sunni Muslim Kurd and first sultan of both Egypt and Syria, Saladin.
Here is what Maimonides had to say about health and diet:
“No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.”
― Moses Maimonides
Sarcopenia — Muscle loss begins in our 30s
I am almost 60 and aware of my involuntary muscle mass, strength, and function loss. We call this condition sarcopenia.
Sarcopenia, or the decline of skeletal muscle tissue with age, is one of the most important causes of functional decline and loss of independence in older adults. Sarcopenia means “lack of flesh.”
Did you know that muscle mass decreases progressively by approximately three percent or more each decade after age 30? Or that this involuntary loss of muscle mass accelerates after age 60? Upwards of half of the muscle mass is lost by our eighth decade of life.
Let’s turn to the scope of the problem. On study discovered up to three in five individuals over age 80 suffer from sarcopenia. Are you overweight? You may become sarcopenic-obese. For those of us who are “normal” or underweight, we get no immunity from sarcopenia.
There can be many causes of sarcopenia, including decreased physical activity, too little protein intake, endocrine (hormonal) changes, decreased function in the spinal cord, or activation of inflammation-promoting cytokines.
In the next section, we’ll look more closely at sarcopenia’s causes.
Sarcopenia — Why do we lose muscle?
There are numerous reasons why we develop sarcopenia. Here are some of them:
- Decreases in hormones (estrogen and testosterone) that come with aging appear to accelerate the development of muscle loss. When we lack sufficient estrogen or testosterone, we get muscle breakdown and the promotion of muscle-wasting chemicals known as cytokines. Cytokines are small proteins released by cells that specifically affect cell interactions and communications.
We may partially reverse changes associated with the loss of testosterone through testosterone replacement, but there is no similar benefit associated with estrogen replacement.
Researchers are examining drugs that block testosterone (androgen) receptors, including enobosarm. This promising treatment for sarcopenia is in clinical trials involving healthy older adults. The results suggest the drug increases lean body mass and improves stair-climbing for men and postmenopausal women.
- Insulin resistance rises with age. Insulin blocks muscle breakdown.
- Physical activity typically declines with age. This inactivity can promote ongoing loss. Moreover, more sedentary behavior increases the relative proportion of body fat mass. While it is challenging to establish a causal relationship between inactivity and muscle loss, we know that short-term muscle inactivity markedly drops muscle and strength in young adults.
- Inadequate protein intake can contribute to sarcopenia. The prospective Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Health ABC Study showed that adults 70 to 79 with a protein intake of 0.8 grams per kilogram bodyweight daily (the Recommended Dietary Allowance) had a greater chance of having mobility limitations of six years compared with those getting at least one gram per kilogram daily.
Sarcopenia — Why it matters
Sarcopenia can have significant health consequences, especially for older adults. The strength (and functional) declines of sarcopenia are related to loss of function (including mobility), disability, and frailty. This finding holds, even after we adjust for body size and fat.
Moreover, sarcopenia is associated with acute and chronic disease states. These problems include insulin resistance, falls, fatigue, and early mortality. Sarcopenia is also associated with rheumatologic conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis in women.
We talked about the potential hit on functional independence that sarcopenia could have. A progressive increase in fat mass also accompanies a loss of muscle. Our bodies change their composition (trust me, younger folks), leading to increased insulin resistance in older individuals.
There’s more: As bone density decreases and joint stiffness increases, we can reduce our stature. Putting all of this together increases the probability that we will suffer from health problems such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, bone loss (osteoporosis), and more.
Sarcopenia — What can you do?
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The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
