sarcopenia2. Improves muscle strength
Hello. I'm a pharmacist Jinny.
As we age, our muscles decrease. Therefore, even the slightest movement will quickly cause you to get tired, get tired, and fall easily because you can't keep your center. Therefore, as we age, it is important to consume enough protein necessary for muscle synthesis.
Koreans have a carbohydrate-heavy diet, which makes it difficult for them to get enough protein. As we age, stomach acid production decreases, so many people are reluctant to eat protein, which is relatively difficult to digest. As a result, approximately 31% of men and 43% of women over the age of 60 have insufficient protein intake [1].
Of course, you can't just eat a lot of protein. As I mentioned earlier, the function of the stomach decreases with age, and the absorption of protein decreases. Therefore, it is very important to consume proteins that are highly utilized by the body and directly help with muscle synthesis.
In this regard, the ingredient that I would like to introduce today is 'leucine protein'. It is a 'complete protein' that is known to help improve sarcopenia and improve muscle strength in the elderly, and it is attracting the attention of the academic community. Now, through a paper, we will tell you how leucine protein intake affects muscle and strength gains.
Originally, the human body is made up of about 600 muscles. As we begin to age, the number of muscle fibers that make up our muscles decreases. Usually, the amount of muscle in the body begins to decrease in the 30s and shrunk to about half in the 70s, which is called sarcopenia.
If you have sarcopenia, you have difficulty sitting up and getting up, and your walking speed is very slow, less than 1 meter per second. Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment for sarcopenia. Therefore, prevention and management are very important.
Leucine has been shown in older adults with sarcopenia to significantly improve functional performance, such as walking time, when taken at a dose of 6 g/day for 13 weeks [2].
"Leucine was well tolerated and significantly improved functional performance, such as walking time, in older adults with sarcopenia."
Falls are one of the common health problems in people over 65 years of age. Globally, about 35% of people aged 65 and over experience a fall each year, with the rate higher at 42% among those aged 70 and over, and 40% of those who have fallen repeatedly [3].
These falls not only lead to a variety of complications that increase mortality, but also require a lot of time and cost to treat and recover. However, one of the biggest causes of these falls is muscle weakness.
Therefore, it's important to consume enough protein to maintain strength and muscle growth. A 2022 review paper published in the prestigious journal Archives of Gerotology and Geriatrics found that leucine protein intake significantly improved muscle strength [4].
"As a primary outcome, muscle strength was significantly improved in the leucine group."
While protein is necessary for muscle synthesis, eating a lot of it doesn't make all of it muscle.This is because there is a certain amount that can be synthesized into muscle at a time. If you consume more than you need, it will be stored as fat.
Therefore, it is not the amount of protein that matters, but the ability of the protein to be synthesized into the muscles. In this regard, a 2021 study published in the prestigious journal Frontiers in Nutrition claimed that leucine protein was more beneficial for muscle protein synthesis in the elderly [5].
"In older adults, an increase in muscle protein synthesis occurs only in mixtures containing higher percentages of leucine."
So far, we've looked at the benefits of leucine protein supplementation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), leucine intake is recommended for healthy adults at a dose of 39 mg/kg [6].
Leucine is generally considered safe, but excessive intake can have side effects such as decreased serotonin, brain damage, and liver damage, so be careful not to exceed the recommended intake.
So, I hope you have a healthy day in body and mind. It was Jinny.
[1] Hyunji ham, kyungho ha. (2022). Trends in Dietary Protein Intake and Its Adequacy among Korean Adults: Data from the 2010 ~ 2019 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Korean J Community Nutr., 27(1), 47–60.
[2] Martínez-Arnau, F. M., Fonfría-Vivas, R., Buigues, C., Castillo, Y., Molina, P., Hoogland, A. J., van Doesburg, F., Pruimboom, L., Fernández-Garrido, J., & Cauli, O. (2020). Effects of Leucine Administration in Sarcopenia: A Randomized and Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial. Nutrients, 12(4), 932.
[3] Jang-soon Jang, Eun-ok Park. (2013). Rates of Fall Experience in Home-Based Older Adults and Related Factors. Journal of Korean Public Health Nursing, 27(1), 89–101.
[4] Lee, S. Y., Lee, H. J., & Lim, J. Y. (2022). Effects of leucine-rich protein supplements in older adults with sarcopenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 102, 104758.
[5,6] Rondanelli M, Nichetti M, Peroni G, Faliva MA, Naso M, Gasparri C, Perna S, Oberto L, Di Paolo E, Riva A, Petrangolini G, Guerreschi G, Tartara A. (2021) Where to Find Leucine in Food and How to Feed Elderly With Sarcopenia in Order to Counteract Loss of Muscle Mass: Practical Advice. Front Nutr. 26(7):622391.
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