If you’re over 60 (or know someone over 60), then chances are you’ve noticed a few things:

  • You’re not as strong as you used to be, so your muscle tone has gone down
  • Your appetite has changed
  • Your energy levels have changed

Since a lot of our clients are over 60, and we like to personalize our clients’ recommendations, we do a lot of research into how the body’s requirements change with age. So I recently read a book called Clinical Nutrition and Aging: Sarcopenia and Muscle Metabolism. I learned a few interesting things that I didn’t know before, and below is a summary of some tidbits that I thought you’d find interesting.

And heck, if you just want to skip the theory, and jump straight into application, you can see if you qualify for our personal training services (which involves nutrition counselling) by filling out this form.

  • Between the ages of 40 and 70, food intake falls by about 25%. This can be due to the loss of the senses of tastes and smell, as well as because more things tend to aggravate their gastrointestinal system (you know what I’m saying?)
  • Protein requirements rise with age, because absorption of protein decreases with age. The current government recommendations for protein are 0.8 grams/kg/day. That’s for a person who doesn’t do strength training (question: why not do strength training???). So if you weigh 70 kg (154 pounds), you should be eating 56 grams of protein per day. If you’re over 60, this requirement increases to 1.2-1.3 grams/kg. So the same 70kg person would require 84-91 grams of protein per day. It’s more if the person is doing strength training (which they should be).
  • The medical term for muscle mass that reaches a high enough severity is “sarcopenia.” Sarcopenia is measured via both hand grip strength, as well as walking speed. If the speed of walking is less than 0.8 meters/second, and grip strength is low (compared to others of that age), a diagnosis of sarcopenia is made. The layman’s term: frailty.
  • Although over 60, the concern isn’t as much weight gain, it’s weight loss, body fat continues to rise. Because the loss of weight heavily comes from muscle mass and bone mass. Not good.
  • You know how you can have insulin resistance? That’s when you have enough insulin, but the cells don’t “hear” the message of insulin. Well, you can also have what’s called “anabolic resistance.” The word “anabolic” means “growth.” Not vertical growth, but growth of muscles, growth of fat, growth of anything in the body is considered “anabolic.” That’s a good thing, because it allows us to repair from any damage we did to our bodies during the day. After strength training (which is a purposeful, controlled, beneficial type of damage to the body), you eat and sleep, which stimulates the body to become anabolic and be stronger the next time you do that workout. When you’re over 60, you can have “anabolic resistance.” That is, the stimuli that before 60 used to cause growth in strength, muscles and bone no longer do. As mentioned earlier, to overcome anabolic resistance when you’re over 60 requires a higher protein intake compared to when you were younger.
  • The single most important stimulus of muscle growth is an amino acid called “Leucine.” Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 of them. If you have enough Leucine, you can overcome anabolic resistance. How much is enough? That’s about 7-12 grams per day. If you want to look up the leucine content of different foods, you can go to Nutrition Data.
  • Caloric restriction is usually accompanied by better health. Not so much in those over 60. In their case, the benefits of caloric restriction are frequently outweighed by the muscle losses that come with caloric restriction. But fortunately, there is a way to get the benefits of caloric restriction, without the downsides of muscle losses: strength training and adequate protein. This allows you to retain (and possibly build) muscle mass, while losing fat. Sounds good to me.
  • In one interesting study, healthy men and women between the ages of 65 and 80 were divided into 2 groups.
    • The first group had an average starting weight of 92.3 kg, and they had an average of 41.8% body fat. They were given a whey protein shake, plus an essential amino acid meal replacement 5 times per day. This is in addition to solid food.
    • The second group had an average starting weight of 91.4 kg, and they had an average 38.9% body fat. They were given a similar meal replacement to group 1, but without the protein. Calories were identical.
    • After 8 weeks, the first group went from 92.3 kg of body weight, down to 84.5 kg, and their body fat went from 41.8%, down to 36.3%. The second group, on the other hand went from 91.4 kg of body weight, down to 84.6 kg, and their body fat went from 38.9% to 37.5% body fat.
    • So notice this: even though at the end of the 8 weeks, both groups weighed virtually the same, the group consuming more protein had lower body fat.
    • Is there a lesson in this? You decide.
  • Another study found that strength training in the elderly is a stronger stimulus for muscle growth, compared to testosterone therapy. Pretty cool.

This is just a small snapshot of what we know about avoiding muscle losses for people over 60. If you want the “full package”, and something that’s tailored to your body, as opposed to something general, again, you can see if you qualify for our services, by filling out this quick, 2-minute questionnaire.

Original source: here.