Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Getting older.....losing muscle

Here is another.

I saw this abstract today. As you get older you lose muscle - sarcopenia they call it. It is a bad thing because it sets you up for injury. Muscle is also useful to the body metabolically too as a reservoir of nutrients and reserves. Anyway, maintaining your muscle mass as you age is very beneficial.

My normal assumption is that people lose muscle because they become less active. Old people exercise less.....if only they would keep training then this would be better.....

This abstract of a study makes things a little more depressing. The problem seems to be down to metabolic changes - people become resistant to anabolic stimuli - i.e. the exercise that used to make you grow muscle becomes ineffective. The study relates to endurance exercise. I wonder if it would apply equally to resistance training?


Age-related skeletal muscle loss is thought to stem from suboptimal nutrition and resistance to anabolic stimuli. Impaired microcirculatory (nutritive) blood flow may contribute to anabolic resistance by reducing delivery of amino acids to skeletal muscle. In this study, we employed contrast-enhanced ultrasound, microdialysis sampling of skeletal muscle interstitium, and stable isotope methodology, to assess hemodynamic and metabolic responses of older individuals to endurance type (walking) exercise during controlled amino acid provision. We hypothesized that older individuals would exhibit reduced microcirculatory blood flow, interstitial amino acid concentrations, and amino acid transport when compared with younger controls. We report for the first time that aging induces anabolic resistance following endurance exercise, manifested as reduced (by approximately 40%) efficiency of muscle protein synthesis. Despite lower (by approximately 40-45%) microcirculatory flow in the older than in the younger participants, circulating and interstitial amino acid concentrations and phenylalanine transport into skeletal muscle were all equal or higher in older individuals than in the young, comprehensively refuting our hypothesis that amino acid availability limits postexercise anabolism in older individuals. Our data point to alternative mediators of age-related anabolic resistance and importantly suggest correction of these impairments may reduce requirements for, and increase the efficacy of, dietary protein in older individuals.


Anonymous said...

Not convinced that this level of decline is fait accompli with ageing. This seems to be a cross sectional study.

When someone conducts a longitudinal intervention study where individuals maintain qualitative inputs in nutrition & exercise and shows the same thing happening to the same level, then I'll be more convinced that these declines are a natural part of ageing.

Karsk Jagare said...

There is also data that shows that older marathon runners who stay fit are functioning at a level that would have beaten the runners of the 60s.

Short duration high intensity exercise rather than endurance exercising seems to be important for older people.

Guess I will dig that paper up and read it.

williebr said...

What if it is the endurance work itself that is the problem?

It tanks your test when you're a young man, so, maybe that just gets even worse as you age and aerobics are to be avoided.

My older clients are still able to increase muscle mass and have better looking arms at 69 than 29. But, I encourage them to completely avoid aerobic work.

Anonymous said...

williebr, when you say that older folks ought to skip aerobics, are you implying not running sprints or not doing intense workouts like crossfit, and just do weight lift or some form of resistance?

Curt said...

Studies show that lifting weights can actually reverse the affects aging has on our muscles.

Check out this research article below for information on this topic.

Also related, I remember reading a study that fed older women (70s +) creatine and then measured their muscle mass, etc. Found they gained muscle w/o exercise, just from the creatine. Maybe something else for people to consider taking as they age.

Here's a link to that study.

williebr said...

Sprinting and resistance work is most definitely anaerobic not aerobic... CP & anaerobic glycolysis.