Muscle Loss: How To Prevent Muscle Loss As You Age
According to a recent US report from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only a very small percentage of older adults are doing enough to keep their muscles strong.
This is a critical lapse for many reasons, but here are two good ones:
1) The moderate amount of exercise required to maintain muscles will yield other important health benefits.
2) Keeping muscles strong is relatively easy.
And now it may be even easier. According to a new study that appears in a recent issue of the journal Nutrition, key nutrients have been shown to help develop muscle mass and support physical functioning as we age.
Getting a grip
Because age-related muscle loss is associated with osteoporosis and an increased risk of falls, US researchers at the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre wanted to find out if an intake of three nutrients might provide a simple way to help prevent muscle loss.
The Vanderbilt researchers recruited a group of 50 women whose average age was about 77. Over a 12-week period, a 'treatment group' of 27 women received a daily supplement containing 1.5 grams of lysine, 2 grams of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate, and 5 grams of arginine. (I'll tell you more about these three nutrients in a moment.) A second group of 23 women received a placebo.
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