What is Sarcopenia? Can Rapid Whey help?

What is Sarcopenia?

From the time you are born to around the time you turn 30, your muscles grow larger and stronger. But at some point in your 30s, you start to lose muscle mass and function. The cause is age-related sarcopenia or sarcopenia with aging.

Physically inactive people can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass each decade after age 30. Even if you are active, you’ll still have some muscle loss.

There’s no test or specific level of muscle mass that will diagnose sarcopenia. Any loss of muscle matters because it lessens strength and mobility.

Sarcopenia typically happens faster around age 75. But it may also speed up as early as 65 or as late as 80. It’s a factor in frailty and the likelihood of falls and fractures in older adults.

Symptoms and Causes of Sarcopenia

Symptoms can include weakness and loss of stamina, which can interfere with physical activity. Reduced activity further shrinks muscle mass.

Although sarcopenia is seen mostly in people who are inactive, the fact that it also occurs in people who stay physically active suggests there are other factors in its development. Researchers believe these include:

• Reduction in nerve cells responsible for sending signals from the brain to the muscles to start movement
• Lower concentrations of some hormones, including growth hormone, testosterone, and insulin-like growth factor
• A decrease in the ability to turn protein into energy
• Not getting enough calories or protein each day to sustain muscle mass

Protein and Sarcopenia

Protein is considered a key nutrient in older age [14]. Dietary protein provides amino acids that are needed for the synthesis of muscle protein, and importantly, absorbed amino acids have a stimulatory effect on muscle protein synthesis after feeding [15]. There is some evidence that the synthetic response to amino acid intake may be blunted in older people, particularly at low intakes [14], and when protein is consumed together with carbohydrate [16]. Recommended protein intakes may, therefore, need to be raised in older people in order to maintain nitrogen balance and to protect them from sarcopenic muscle loss [14].

Whilst there is currently no consensus on the degree to which dietary protein requirements change in older age, there is important observational evidence that an insufficient protein intake may be an important contributor to impaired physical function. For example, in the US Health, Aging and Body Composition Study, a greater loss of lean mass over 3 years, assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, was found among older community-dwelling men and women who had low energy-adjusted protein intakes at baseline [17]. The differences were substantial, such that the participants with protein intakes in the top fifth of the distribution lost 40% less lean mass over the follow-up period when compared with those in bottom fifth. Protein and/or amino acid supplementation should, therefore, have the potential to slow sarcopenic muscle loss.

Rapid Whey

Harvesting the anti-inflammatory power of our 100% Tart Cherry Juice and combining it with the highest quality whey protein isolate, we are powering muscle regrowth. As a bi-product of cheese making, Whey Protein Isolate offers major benefits not found in other sources of protein. These benefits include amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle and produce energy in our bodies.

There are 22 amino acids present in the human body and 9 are not able to be made by the body. These essential amino acids need to be consumed through diet. Whey Protein Isolate contains the highest level of these essential amino acids. These Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA), such as Valine, Isoleucine and Leucine are important in muscle recovery and development.

When Whey Protein Isolate is consumed after resistance training, it can promote muscle development and because of the high levels of BCAA, it is directly metabolized into the muscle tissue.