Sarcopenia can also raise the risk of developing cognitive disorders. One study found people with sarcopenia were six times more likely to have cognitive impairments than those without the disease.

We know that exercise can help protect against age-related muscle loss and boost our cognitive health. But what about the role that nutrition plays?

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The power of blended antioxidants

Oxidative stress, which plays a significant role in age-related health issues, is the progressive cellular damage caused by free radicals.

The best defense against oxidative stress? Antioxidants. Consuming foods rich in antioxidants can reduce cell damage and slow down age-related health decline.

In a recent study, researchers gave aged mice a blended antioxidant supplement known as Twendee X (TwX). The supplement contains the following antioxidants:

• Vitamin C
• L-glutamine
• Niacin
• L-cysteine
• Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)
• Vitamin B2

Results showed the mice experienced significant improvements in spatial cognition, short-term memory and muscle durability.

These results suggest that such antioxidant cocktails may benefit both memory and muscle strength in aging humans.

The right foods for antioxidants

Many foods are rich in antioxidants, but unfortunately, most of the foods highest in antioxidants are those that most of us don’t eat enough of.

If you’re ready to make an effort to improve your dietary antioxidant intake, look for these:

• Glutamine/l-glutamine: Beef, cabbage, cottage cheese, milk, pork, poultry, raw parsley, raw spinach, ricotta cheese and yogurt
• Niacin (B3): Bananas, beef, beef liver, brown rice, fish, fortified cereals and breads, legumes, nuts, pork, poultry and seeds
• Cysteine/L-cysteine: Beef, egg, poultry and whole grains
• CoQ10: oily fish (such as salmon and tuna), organ meats (such as liver) and whole grains
• Vitamin B2/riboflavin: Almonds, cheese, chicken breast, dairy milk, fortified cereals and breads, eggs, lean beef and pork, organ meats (such as beef liver), salmon, spinach and yogurt
• Vitamin C: bell peppers (all colors), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupes, cauliflower, grapefruits, leafy greens (turnip, mustard, beet, collards), honeydew melons, kale, kiwi, lemons, oranges, papayas, snow peas, strawberries, sweet potatoes and tomatoes

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• Vitamin E: Almonds, avocado, leafy greens (beet, mustard, turnip), peanuts, red peppers, spinach (boiled), Swiss chard and sunflower seeds
• Carotenoids (including lutein and zeaxanthin): Apricots, asparagus, beets, broccoli, cantaloupes, carrots, bell peppers, kale, mangos, oranges, peaches, pink grapefruits, pumpkins, winter squash, spinach, sweet potatoes, tangerines, tomatoes, turnip and collard greens and watermelon
• Selenium: Barley, brown rice, Brazil nuts, fish, shellfish, beef and poultry
• Zinc: Beef, cashews, chickpeas, fortified cereals, lentils, oysters, poultry, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and shrimp
• Phenolic compounds: Anthocyanins (blueberries, strawberries), catechins (berries, cocoa, tea), coumaric acid (berries, spices), quercetin (apples, onions, red wine), resveratrol (grapes, peanuts, and red wine)

Sources:

Blended antioxidant supplement improves cognition and memory in aged mice — ScienceDaily

A Blended Vitamin Supplement Improves Spatial Cognitive and Short-Term Memory in Aged Mice — International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Antioxidants — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Glutamine — Mount Sinai

Niacin – Vitamin B3 — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dietary Cysteine and Other Amino Acids and Stroke Incidence in Women — Stroke

Coenzyme Q10: The essential nutrient — Journal of Pharmacy & BioAllied Sciences

Riboflavin – Vitamin B2 — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The post Why antioxidants are the answer for aging brains and muscles appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But there’s another measurement of age that has a far bigger impact…

Known as epigenetic or biological age, it presents a more accurate picture of how well your body’s cells and tissues are functioning. That makes it a more precise measure of age and risk for age-related disease.

The good news is that there are ways to slow down the epigenetic aging process and push back the onset of aging-related diseases, potentially increasing both your healthspan and lifespan.

And research has revealed one of the simplest and most effective ways to reverse your body’s aging clock is something you can do right now…

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Delivering measurable reductions in biological age

In research from Tohoku University, scientists reviewed existing evidence from studies showing that regular exercise, physical activity and fitness may influence epigenetic aging and potentially reverse it.

The results were compelling enough that you may just want to get up and dance — or walk, run, lift weights, go swimming, or engage in any type of exercise that floats your boat.

That’s because the deep dive into study after study revealed the incredible benefits of staying active for reducing epigenetic aging, including:

• A study in mice that demonstrated that endurance and resistance training reduced age-related molecular changes in muscle tissue.
• A human study that found exercising reduced biological age markers in blood and skeletal muscle.
• Research that revealed that sedentary middle-aged women could reduce their epigenetic age by two years after just eight weeks of combined aerobic and strength training.
• Another study that found older men with higher oxygen uptake levels, a key measure of cardiovascular fitness, had significantly slower epigenetic aging.

According to the scientists, “These findings suggest that maintaining physical fitness delays epigenetic aging in multiple organs and supports the notion that exercise as a geroprotector confers benefits to various organs.”

Considering all that can go wrong without exercise, I’m not really surprised.

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Which organs benefit most?

The research also was able to show that while exercise is excellent for slowing aging across your entire body, specific organs grab even bigger benefits.

Obviously, exercise offers benefits for your skeletal muscles, which are used to move your body as you exercise, allowing them to stay strong and healthy.

However, beyond muscle, regular physical training may also slow the aging process in your heart, liver, fat tissue, and even your gut (which controls a significant portion of your immune system).

The scientists do say, though, that if you want to experience the anti-aging benefits of exercise to the fullest extent, the key is to leverage a structured exercise routine that is planned, repetitive, and goal-directed.

That’s because regular exercise, like riding an exercise bike, playing tennis, going for a jog or lifting weights, appears to have more potent effects on slowing epigenetic aging than general physical activity, such as walking or doing household chores.

In addition to exercise, restricting calories can also help reduce aging and even mortality risk. So you have choices. Do what feels right for you.

Sources:

Exercise may actually reverse your body’s aging clock – ScienceDaily

The post Doing this regularly could help you age in reverse appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

They say that one of the most impressive of these superfoods is a common fruit that’s not only readily available at your local grocery store, but also one that most people enjoy.

And if you need an excuse to enjoy it more often, consider the 1,600 health-boosting compounds that can improve your health status — starting with these six benefits…

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Your body on grapes

A study review by a leading cancer researcher at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Western New England University scoured over sixty peer-reviewed studies on the health benefits of grapes.

According to those scientists, there are over 1,600 compounds fueling the health-boosting power of grapes. A significant advantage is that the compounds fall into the categories of antioxidants and polyphenols — both of which are considered bioactive compounds.

Bioactive compounds possess diverse biological activities and can interact with biological membranes, receptors and enzymes to influence cellular processes. According to the National Institutes of Health, bioactive compounds are strong enough to exert “changes in health status,” and help prevent myriad diseases.

Those 1,600 reasons make eating grapes a simple and effective way to support head-to-toe health, starting with these six health issues…

#1 – Improved heart health

The research revealed that the benefits grapes bring to cardiovascular health are well established. Grapes are known for promoting relaxation of blood vessels and healthy circulation (which supports blood pressure in the normal range), as well as modulating cholesterol levels.

#2 – Cognitive support

Beyond the heart, clinical trials have shown that grapes deliver powerful support for better brain health, promoting brain metabolism (energy production) and improving cognition. One study found that taking a small dose of resveratrol (found in the skin of grapes) regularly not only improves cognitive function but can also improve blood flow and brain health.

#3 – Beautiful skin

Compounds found in the skin of grapes enhance skin health by increasing resistance to UV radiation and DNA damage at the cellular level. Researchers believe polyphenols, natural antioxidant components found in grapes, are responsible for these beneficial effects.

#4 – Balanced gut microbiome

Grape compounds boost and support overall gut health. Eating grapes has been shown to increase the levels of a type of probiotic bacteria, an enzyme that promotes metabolic detoxification, and enhance the overall diversity of the gut microbiome.

#5 – Eye health

If that weren’t already enough, grapes also contain potent support for your eyes. Beneficial compounds promote retinal health by increasing the optical density of macular pigment (MPOD), a crucial factor in protecting the eyes from harmful blue light and oxidative stress.

#6 – Youthful muscles

Do you worry that family genes can set you up for sickness or early death? Grape consumption has been shown to alter gene expression in relevant body systems. According to leading resveratrol and cancer researcher John M. Pezzuto, Ph.D., D.Sc., Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Western New England University, it’s this ability to affect activities at the genetic level that is likely the driving force behind the health-boosting power of grapes.

For example, studies have shown that eating grapes can positively alter gene expression in muscle health. By promoting genes linked to lean muscle mass and reducing those associated with muscle degeneration, adding grapes to your diet could help counteract age-related muscle loss. This effect is especially pronounced in women.

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Great compounds in grapes

So what specific compounds fuel the incredible benefits attributed to grapes? Here are just a few of the special compounds you can fill your body with by eating grapes regularly — and how they promote health…

• Flavonoids – Responsible for the rainbow of colors found in fruits and veggies, these compounds boost the brain’s blood supply and slow its aging and offer blood pressure benefits to boot. Just be sure to diversify your flavonoids to ditch disease and live longer.
• Anthocyanidins – These pigments are known for their antioxidant properties and health benefits, like reducing inflammation, lowering blood pressure, and decreasing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
• Catechins – Another type of antioxidant, catechins are also famously found in green tea. They’re known for their role in reducing inflammation, improving heart health and enhancing brain function. They may also aid in weight management.
• Phenolic acids – These acids are best known for their antioxidant properties and potent support for reducing inflammation, improving gut health and guarding against chronic diseases, including heart disease and diabetes.
• Resveratrol – A potent antioxidant from the skin of red grapes, resveratrol is a health-promoting powerhouse. It reduces brain aging and protects the brain’s barrier, fights muscle loss, promotes heart health and even combats the effects of a high-fat diet and Alzheimer’s.

Enjoy grapes daily to support your best health!

Sources:

This common fruit has over 1,600 compounds that boost brain, heart, and gut health — ScienceDaily

Scientists Discover Surprising New Benefits of Eating Grapes — SciTechDaily

WNE Research Finds Grape Consumption Enhances Muscle Health — WNE

The secret to lower blood pressure with flavonoid – Easy Health Options

Foods that slow brain aging by boosting its blood supply – Easy Health Options

Health benefits of anthocyanins against age-related diseases — Frontiers

Beneficial Properties of Green Tea Catechins — NIH

Phenolic Acids: Sources, Definition, and Health Benefits — Biology Insights

How resveratrol helps fight muscle loss and fatigue — Easy Health Options

Resveratrol fights effects of a high-fat diet and Alzheimer’s — Easy Health Options

The post 1,600 reasons to eat this underappreciated superfruit appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yet, what might be most impressive of all is the effect exercise has on cancer.

But if you have to choose between a long, brisk walk and a faster, more intense exercise session, which one delivers the best cancer defense?

Well, I’ll answer that question this way…

Got 30 minutes?

One bout of exercise slashes cancer

Research out of Edith Cowan University has revealed that even a single vigorous 30-minute workout could be the key to slashing cancer cell growth in breast cancer survivors.

To prove this, the scientists measured myokine levels before, immediately after, and 30 minutes following a single bout of either resistance or high-intensity interval training in breast cancer survivors.

But first: Why myokines — and why breast cancer survivors?

Myokines are proteins produced by muscles and have known anti-cancer properties.

But while myokines are significantly produced during exercise in healthy people, the researchers weren’t sure if the same would hold true for breast cancer survivors.

To their delight, the team found that both sets of exercise led to a potent increase in myokine levels for the breast cancer survivors, which could reduce cancer growth by 20 to 30%!

“The results from the study show that both types of exercise really work to produce these anti-cancer myokines in breast cancer survivors. The results from this study are excellent motivators to add exercise as standard care in the treatment of cancer,” says researcher Francesco Bettariga.

Body composition tames inflammation

The reason exercise proved so powerful against cancer in this study wasn’t limited to the significant myokine boost gained from a quick 30-minute workout.

The same researchers delved into how improving body composition through regular physical activity could reduce the inflammation that drives cancer, and plays a key role in breast cancer recurrence and mortality by promoting tumor growth.

The team demonstrated that reducing fat mass and increasing lean mass, through consistent and persistent exercise, significantly improved cancer survivors’ ability to reduce inflammation.

In fact, they found that using exercise to change body composition was the way to go compared to other fat loss strategies, pointing out that, “You never want to reduce your weight without exercising, because you need to build or preserve muscle mass and produce these chemicals that you can’t do through just diet alone.”

Building a cancer-fighting body

So if you want to grab all the cancer-reducing benefits that exercise has to offer, be sure to set up a regular, long-term exercise program that can improve your body composition and decrease inflammation over time.

If you’re recovering from cancer, talk to your doctor about getting started. You may need to start slowly before easing into the 30-minute sessions that were shown to be effective in the study.  

But previous research has shown exercise can even make cancer treatments, like chemotherapy, more bearable.

If you’re on medication, also check with them about taking a creatine supplement. It shouldn’t interfere with anything, but if you’re a cancer survivor, it’s always good to let your physician know these things.

Why creatine?

Dr. Richard Kreider, professor and director of the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Lab at Texas A&M University, has spent over 30 years investigating the effects of creatine.

He says, “When the body is stressed, like in exercise or under metabolic conditions like some diseases, creatine phosphate is needed to maintain energy in the cell, and therefore has a lot of protective and health benefits, in addition to the exercise performance effects that have been seen.”

Creatine also protects against the loss of muscle mass, decreases markers of inflammation and possibly attenuates cancerous tumor growth progression.

Sources:

The 30-minute workout that could slash cancer cell growth by 30% — ScienceDaily

Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Catabolic Effects of Creatine Supplementation: A Brief Review — Journal Nutrients

The post How to slash cancer growth 30% in 30 minutes appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, think again.

Chances are that if you have heard of this supplement, it was in the context of high-performance athletes.

But it’s actually a vital nutrient for anyone who wants to support everyday wellness and healthy aging. Does that sound like you?

Then, read on for the skinny on creatine and why you need more of it.

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Creatine: What is it

Creatine is a nutrient, a compound to be exact, produced by three amino acids. Its function is to increase the amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in our cells — the body’s main source of energy.

Creatine can be found in seafood and red meat. It’s also available in flavored or unflavored powders, both in health stores and online.

In the gym, supplementing creatine translates to enhanced energy production, which means more energy to build muscle faster and to recover faster.

In general, ATP stores energy and delivers it to various parts of the body as it is needed to support everything from digestion to movement to thinking.

Once seen as a supplement for “gym rats” only, experts now say creatine plays a vital role in cellular energy, cognitive function, and healthy aging — and we should all take advantage of it.

What it does

If you’re dealing with physical fatigue that prevents you from staying active or finding that you’re just not as sharp as you once were, supplementing with creatine could help.

Dr. Richard Kreider, professor and director of the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Lab at Texas A&M University, has spent over 30 years investigating the effects of creatine.

He says, “When the body is stressed, like in exercise or under metabolic conditions like some diseases, creatine phosphate is needed to maintain energy in the cell, and therefore has a lot of protective and health benefits, in addition to the exercise performance effects that have been seen.”

But studies have found that most people aren’t getting enough. Women see a drop in their body’s creatine stores during hormonally driven periods such as menopause, menstruation or pregnancy.

And, as we age, we produce and store less. Production of ATP also slows down.

This slowing down of production has a particularly noticeable effect on muscle mass, strength and cognitive function.

In fact, just a couple of years ago, a critical analysis of nutritional supplements for healthy aging suggested four nutrients that could help prevent sarcopenia — the loss of muscle mass that occurs with age — and one of them was creatine.

Low dietary creatine intake is also associated with higher body fat. So why are we just hearing about its benefits outside of the gym?

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Unfounded concerns over safety and bloating

For years, there have been misgivings about its safety and the potential for uncomfortable bloating. But Dr. Kreider says a vast body of research shows it’s safe, effective and well-tolerated by most people.

When he and his colleagues analyzed 685 clinical trials on supplementing with creatine to assess its safety, their analysis revealed no significant differences in the rate of side effects between subjects taking creatine and those taking a placebo.

“There’s absolutely no data supporting any negative side effect anecdotally reported about creatine on the internet and in the media,” Dr. Kreider says. “Creatine is safe, and it’s important for everybody, not just bodybuilders and athletes.”

The problem is, most of us fall short in getting enough from our diets.

“You only get about a gram of creatine per pound of red meat or fish, like salmon, so it’s expensive and takes a lot of calories to get a gram,” Kreider said.

There’s no clearly defined Recommended Dietary Allowance for creatine, but the standard recommendation is 3 to 5 grams per day. Dr. Kreider suggests consuming 5 to 10 grams per day will maintain healthy stores and provide enough to support the brain.

When I try a new supplement, I usually start out with the lowest recommended amount and work my way up to see how well I tolerate it. I think that’s fair advice for just about anyone.

If you have kidney problems, it’s a good idea to discuss supplementing with your doctor first.

Sources:

This overlooked supplement could help you think sharper and age better — Science Daily

Safety of creatine supplementation: analysis of the prevalence of reported side effects in clinical trials and adverse event reports — Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function of healthy individuals: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials — Experimental Gerontology

Creatine shows potential to boost cognition in Alzheimer’s patients — University of Kansas Medical Center

Creatine monohydrate pilot in Alzheimer’s: Feasibility, brain creatine, and cognition — Alzheimer’s Association

The post The ‘gym supplement’ for healthy aging and everyday wellness appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Take the hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). It’s released when we eat in order to stimulate insulin.

But GLP-1 does more than regulate blood sugar. It also suppresses appetite by slowing the passage of food from the stomach.

Sure enough, the weight loss industry latched on to this and brought us the drug Ozempic, whose active ingredient is semaglutide.

Originally meant to treat type 2 diabetes, it’s also marketed in a higher dose (with a hefty price) as Wegovy to anyone willing to pay for the weight loss “miracle drug.”

And now, experts are sounding new alarm bells about harmful impacts…

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Semaglutide can rob you of muscle mass

According to a study presented at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, women and older adults taking these anti-obesity drugs may be at higher risk for muscle loss.

For adults with obesity, losing muscle is already a common side effect of weight loss.

But according to Dr. Melanie Haines of Harvard Medical School, about 40% of the weight loss experienced by women and older adults taking semaglutide-based drugs is not fat loss, but rather the loss of lean muscle.

Since muscle helps control blood sugar (and support bone health), it’s not surprising that the researchers also saw less improvement in HbA1c levels among this group. Not only does muscle increase insulin sensitivity, but it also takes glucose from the bloodstream to fuel muscle cells.

In fact, sarcopenia — age-related loss of muscle mass — is tied to health complications including diabetes.

Additionally, Dr. Haines and her colleagues found that eating less protein is also linked to greater muscle loss while on these drugs — and cautions that more studies are needed to find the best way to lose fat but keep muscle when using GLP-1 medications.

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Consider the risks and the alternatives

Muscle loss is just the latest in a series of findings that should make you think twice before using semaglutide as a weight loss strategy.

A large study at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital, one of the country’s largest neuro-ophthalmology clinics, found an association between semaglutide and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), an irreversible and uncommon condition causing damage to the optic nerve and, ultimately, permanent loss of vision.

And both Wegovy and Ozempic have black box warnings. A black box warning is the most serious type of health warning mandated by the FDA.

Such a warning, usually prominently featured on a drug’s label, is reserved for serious adverse reactions or special problems associated with a drug.

A safer alternative is to help your body do its job naturally by eating foods that balance and strengthen your hunger hormones, stabilize blood sugar and help you feel full.

Berries create a feeling of fullness, and their anthocyanin content makes the body more sensitive to insulin.

Oats contain beta-glucan, a form of fiber singled out in a study to mimic how GLP-1 agonists work, without the harmful side effects.

Protein has been shown to suppress ghrelin, the hormone that signals hunger.

The only side effect here is that it could take you a little longer to lose weight than if you took drugs, and it may require some exercise. But building your muscles is also going to help keep your blood sugar under control.

But using the right foods to achieve your weight loss goals will leave you with good eating habits you can use for the rest of your life and won’t leave you with side effects like diarrhea… or an empty bank account.

Sources:

Semaglutide melts fat—but may quietly strip away your strength — Science Daily

The post Semaglutide melts muscle: Why that’s bad news for blood sugar appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is old news, right?

But it’s not all about the heart.

Age also takes its toll on the flexibility of our blood vessels, particularly our arteries. And without arterial walls that are sufficiently elastic, you may as well be a sitting duck for heart disease and stroke.

Research has tried to tease out the most important factors for keeping arteries flexible, regardless of age.

And one such study has uncovered two factors that affect artery health the most — for women, at least…

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Women, stiff arteries and what matters most

A study from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland looked at four health markers in women ages 16 to 58 years: aerobic fitness, body fat percentage, muscle mass and blood pressure.

The researchers wanted to determine which of these four factors might be associated with arterial stiffening in various age groups, including even as early as adolescence.

To do this, they analyzed data from four separate studies among women of different age groups: adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood. They also used data from the MIIA study (Monitoring Injury and Illness in Athletes).

Based on these analyses, it was clear that only two of the four factors — higher muscle mass and lower blood pressure — were associated with less arterial stiffness, regardless of age.

Better aerobic fitness and lower body fat percentage were also linked to better arterial flexibility — but age, too, seemed to explain these correlations.

“While age was the most important factor in explaining arterial stiffness, maintaining sufficient muscle mass and controlling blood pressure may protect against the adverse effects of aging on arterial health,” says Dr. Eero Haapala of the University of Jyväskylä.

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Helping your arteries stay young

Clearly, there’s a connection here. Keeping your muscles strong as you age could protect you from a double whammy — stiff arteries and sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). And both will promote heart health.

To try and avoid that trap, increase your muscle mass:

• Feed your muscles protein, but spread your intake out throughout the day so you can better absorb it.
• Strength train and make omega-3 supplements part of your fitness routine. A study found taking an omega-3 supplement daily more than doubled the amount of strength women gained during strength training.

But, drum roll, please…omega-3s have direct benefits on arteries too…

They’ve been shown to improve endothelial function in the artery walls.

Inside our arteries is an endothelial lining. That lining contains a substance called elastin — and as the name indicates, its job is to promote “elastic” or flexible arteries — the opposite of stiff.

At the same time, having flexible arteries improves vasodilation — the natural process that increases blood flow and decreases blood pressure (the 2^nd factor).

So an omega-3 supplement makes perfect sense not only to aid in increasing muscle mass with exercise for healthier arteries — but also to support the endothelial lining, which in turn promotes normal blood pressure.

Get more omega-3s of course by eating fatty fish a couple of times a week or through supplementing. Fish oil was the only option for years, but krill oil has become popular for producing less stomach upset and fish burps.

Sources:

Maintaining muscle mass supports women’s arterial health from youth to middle age — Eureka Alert

Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and blood pressure with arterial stiffness in adolescent, young adult, and middle-aged women — Scientific Reports

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids improve endothelial function in humans at risk for atherosclerosis: A review — PubMed

The post 2 factors that protect women from stiff arteries at any age appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One of the less-talked-about impacts of diabetes is its effect on the health of skeletal muscle, which accounts for more than 50% of the body’s weight.

And when diabetes and obesity coexist, as they often do — experts call that “diabesity” — the damage to skeletal muscle can be profound…

In fact, diabesity is one reason that exercise is more challenging for people with diabetes.

Diabesity induces stress and dysfunction in skeletal muscle at the cellular level, including the mitochondria. This damages muscle mass and structure and impairs metabolism and function.

Investigators are exploring ways to counteract this impact. And they may have found one in a hormone more people may be familiar with as a popular sleep supplement…

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Melatonin protects against muscle damage

There are three types of muscle fibers:

• Slow twitch, also known as red fibers due to the large number of mitochondria they possess;
• Fast twitch, or white fibers;
• and intermediate.

Every muscle has a specific proportion of these fiber types, which vary and change depending on the type of movement being performed. For example, during short periods of intense muscular activity, white fibers with glycolytic (or anaerobic) metabolism are dominant, while during prolonged periods of low-intensity muscular activity, red fibers with oxidative (or aerobic) metabolism predominate. Red (slow) fibers are thought to be more energy-efficient than white (fast) fibers.

In diabesity, the necessary proportion of fiber types goes out the window…

Previous research indicated melatonin could be helpful, so an international team of researchers led by the University of Granada (UGR) administered melatonin to obese and diabetic rodents for 12 weeks to gauge its impact on muscle health.

What they discovered was fascinating…

Melatonin was able to restore the healthy proportion of these fibers, increasing oxidative fibers and reducing glycolytic fibers — ultimately reversing the effects of “diabesity.”

In other words, it improved the muscle’s ability to burn fat (reducing fat accumulation) and produce energy.

What’s even more interesting is that melatonin showed effects similar to those of prolonged aerobic activity, especially improving mitochondrial function and regulating calcium levels in cell compartments. This reduces cellular stress and prevents programmed cell death.

“We discovered that melatonin restores calcium levels in the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum, which helps to reduce cell damage,” says study lead Dr. Ahmad Agil, a professor of pharmacology at UGR.

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Melatonin as ‘diabesity’ therapy in humans

These findings open up a new frontier for the use of melatonin, not only to improve muscle energy but as an innovative therapy to combat “diabesity.”

“Our results reinforce the idea that melatonin could have therapeutic applications in metabolic diseases, improving the muscle health of patients,” Dr. Agil says.

However, the researchers stress that clinical studies in humans are needed to confirm these results and determine optimal dosing.

“If we can demonstrate its effectiveness in humans, we could have an innovative treatment that would improve the lives of millions of people,” Dr. Agil says. Until then, he adds, maintaining a healthy, active and balanced lifestyle during the day and proper rest at night is key to preserving muscle health and preventing the adverse effects of diabesity.

If you want to try adding a melatonin supplement to your health regimen, the common recommendation is 1 to 2 milligrams about 30 minutes before bedtime. You can work your way up to 5 milligrams, but it’s important that you don’t take more than 10 milligrams at a time, or you could risk side effects that include drowsiness, headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, irritability and waking up in the night.

If you have kidney or liver problems, it may take you longer to clear melatonin, so your upper limit may be even lower than 10 milligrams. Talk to your doctor before starting a melatonin supplement so you can get advice on the right amount for you.

Sources:

Melatonin protects against muscle damage and restores the proportion of fibers altered by obesity and diabetes — EurekAlert!

Melatonin Ameliorates Organellar Calcium Homeostasis, Improving Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Apoptosis in the Vastus Lateralis Muscle of Both Sexes of Obese Diabetic Rats — Antioxidants

Melatonin Dosage: How Much Should You Take — Sleep Foundation

Melatonin and your sleep: Is it safe, what are the side effects and how does it work? — UC Davis Health

The post The sleep supplement that combats ‘diabesity’ appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Muscle strength helps improve balance and prevent falls as we age. It also lowers the risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which can include heart disease and diabetes.

Good cardiorespiratory fitness (also called aerobic capacity) is connected with a lower risk for heart failure and stroke.

Together, these two fitness measures are a good predictor of longevity.

But even in the face of cancer, we’re learning how maintaining muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness can genuinely make the difference between life and death…

Longer life in the face of cancer

An international group of researchers has proven that exercise programs tailored to boost muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness can help increase the chances of survival for cancer patients, even those in advanced stages of the disease.

The researchers analyzed data from 42 studies involving nearly 47,000 patients with various types and stages of cancer.

Here are their findings:

• Patients with high levels of muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness were 31% to 46% less likely to die from any cause than those with poor levels.
• With each unit of increase in muscular strength, this risk fell even further by 11%.
• For patients with advanced-stage cancer (stages 3 and 4), the combo of strength and fitness was associated with an 8% to 46% lower risk of death from any cause.
• For those with lung or digestive cancers, this fitness combo was associated with a 19% to 41% lower risk of death.
• Each unit increase in fitness level was associated with an 18% lower risk of death from cancer itself. 

“Our findings highlight that muscle strength could potentially be used in clinical practice to determine mortality risk in cancer patients in advanced stages and, therefore, muscle strengthening activities could be employed to increase life expectancy,” the researchers state.

In other words, people with advanced cancers could increase their expected lifespan and improve their quality of life by engaging in exercise that improves their aerobic fitness and muscle strength.

Exercise for prevention and survival

Sarcopenia is a progressive loss of muscle mass associated with aging. Though the researchers did not mention this condition, there’s some relevance…

Cancer is prevalent in older adults with sarcopenia, but also cancer treatment can increase the risk of developing sarcopenia. So you can see how regularly exercising for muscle mass and cardiorespiratory fitness is to your benefit.

In addition to fitness being a contributing factor to cancer survival and longevity, exercise can reduce your risk of ever getting cancer.

We’ve previously shared that exercise works like a roadblock to prostate cancer progression, has powerful effects on slowing tumor growth in breast cancer and is essential to surviving colon cancer.

That said, if you have cancer or are under a doctor’s care for an illness, discuss your exercise plans with them before getting started.

Here are some simple exercises that fit the bill:

Strength training exercises include push-ups, squats, planks, and weightlifting. Here is a series of videos from the Mayo Clinic to help you get started.

Gymnastics, swimming, and cycling also strengthen your muscles.

Jumping rope, jogging, tennis, walking and climbing your stairs at home all offer chances for improving cardiorespiratory capacity.

Walking, swimming, tennis, dancing, and elliptical training combine strength training and aerobic exercise. They work both upper and lower body muscles, giving you insurance against sarcopenia.

Sources:

Muscular strength and good physical fitness linked to lower risk of death in people with cancer — Eureka Alert

Association of muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness with all-cause and cancer-specific mortality in patients diagnosed with cancer: a systematic review with meta-analysis — British Journal of Sports Medicine

7 Reasons Why Strength Training Is Key to a Long Life  — AARP

The post The fitness combo for cancer survival & longevity appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is precisely what happens to your body when its “trash removal system” fails.

But when that happens, it’s more than just an inconvenience. An interruption in how your body takes care of cellular trash could mean an interruption in an organ as vital as your heart…

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Your body’s ‘trash man’

Eliminating damaged cell components is essential for maintaining the body’s tissues and organs—and how they function.

The brain is a good example. During sleep, the glymphatic system clears waste from the brain with the help of cerebral spinal fluid. If that process is hindered, cognitive decline will be close behind.

A similar process holds true for our muscles and nerves, whose cellular components are subject to constant wear and tear.

But how exactly are these damaged pieces of cells eliminated?

The protein BAG3 is the body’s “trash man.”

It constantly identifies damaged cell components and ensures they are enclosed by cellular membranes to form an autophagosome. An autophagosome is like a garbage bag in which cellular waste is collected for later shredding and recycling.

This waste disposal “system” is essential for the longer-term preservation of muscle mass.

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Autophagosomes and your heart

Remember that your heart is nothing more than a giant muscle. It’s made mostly of cardiac muscle, enabling it to pump blood throughout your body. And it undergoes a lot of wear and tear.

Now, think about what could happen if the damaged cells in your heart were just left to lie around rather than being removed.

You guessed it: heart disease.

Luckily, a properly functioning BAG3 system prevents this by enclosing damaged cells and letting your body remove them.

You may be wondering if there is anything you can do to make this system work more efficiently.

Well, researchers have just discovered one way to do that.  And it’s accessible to everyone.

Strength training supports the BAG3 system and your heart

A research team led by Professor Jörg Höhfeld of the University of Bonn Institute of Cell Biology has shown that strength training activates BAG3 in the muscles.

Professor Sebastian Gehlert, a member of the research team, emphasizes how important the findings are: “We now know what intensity level of strength training it takes to activate the BAG3 system, so we can optimize training programs for top athletes and help physical therapy patients build muscle better.”

This means regular strength training (resistance exercise) can keep your heart healthy and strong.

So, although it may seem counterintuitive, the American Heart Association recommends strength training for anyone trying to prevent a second heart attack or stroke after having a conversation with your doctor.

And if you have a family history of heart disease, you’ll also want to get started right away.

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More benefits of resistance exercise and how to get started

You don’t need to be a weightlifter to make resistance exercise part of your life. Any activity that requires your muscles to work against a weight or force counts as strength training.

This includes the use of resistance bands, as well as using your own body weight by doing push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. Even walking counts.

Resistance exercise has other health benefits, too:

1. Stronger bones. As we age, osteoporosis becomes more likely. Strength training can prevent this or keep it from getting worse by triggering bone-forming cells into action. And the joints we use while in training – our hips, spine, and wrists – are also the spots most likely to be affected by osteoporosis.
2. Weight loss. Strength training can rid of body of fat and help you burn more calories. And keeping your muscles healthy can help prevent injuries that will land you in a sedentary lifestyle that will shorten your life expectancy.
3. Improves balance. Strengthening your leg muscles can help counteract the weakness and frailty that can occur with age. A stronger lower half and better balance will cut your risk for hip fracture.
4. More flexibility. Building the muscles around your bones lubricates joints and eases swelling. If you have stiffness from arthritis, this is especially helpful. Being flexible is also tied to healthy longevity.

Sources:

Strength training activates cellular waste disposal — EurekAlert

Force-induced dephosphorylation activates the cochaperone BAG3 to coordinate protein homeostasis and membrane traffic — Current Biology

Strength and Resistance Training Exercise — American Heart Association

The post How to trigger your heart’s waste disposal system and why appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what good is a long life unless you’re healthy and independent enough to enjoy it?

A lot of focus for successful aging has focused on muscle strength, and rightly so. Without muscle strength, we lose mobility.

However, muscle loss is also the gateway to the routine metabolic decline associated with aging. Here’s why and how to stop it…

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The role of muscle loss in metabolic health

Imagine you’re in your middle age or beyond. It’s possible that your muscle mass is decreasing, and along with it, your strength and ability to perform daily tasks.

This shrinking of muscle mass is known as sarcopenia. It will lead to a loss of function and independence if it isn’t reversed. But what many don’t know is that muscle loss can increase your risk for type 2 diabetes.

That’s because muscle is a major contributor to resting metabolism. The muscle serves as a reservoir, taking glucose and lipids (fats) from the bloodstream and storing them where they can be used for energy.

There, it also acts as a buffer of amino acids during what are known as periods of catabolic stress, which is often associated with critical illness. This is why markers of muscle health can predict outcomes for patients admitted to intensive care units, including how long someone may be on a ventilator or their risk of surviving their hospitalization. In other words, mortality.

Understanding the significance of maintaining healthy muscle tissue is crucial for living a long and healthy life, for reasons many of us may not have considered.

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The best way to strengthen mature muscles

Beginning around age 50, we lose about one percent of our muscle mass per year. At the same time, we lose muscle strength at the rate of about three percent per year.

And if we become bedridden for any length of time due to illness or injury, our muscles will shrink even more…

For example, if you walk regularly, but then an injury or illness keeps you from getting your steps in for two or three weeks, changes can occur quickly enough to disrupt blood glucose control and impair the body’s ability to build muscle from dietary protein.

But life happens. Fortunately, researchers at McMaster University have found one exercise in particular can tap into the “plasticity” of our muscle tissue to work to our advantage…

Their research has shown that resistance exercise (strength training), even when performed sporadically and with lighter loads, can effectively offset muscle losses during periods of reduced activity in older people.

They also found that between 1.2 and 1.6 grams of daily protein consumption is ideal for improving muscle growth. This protein should come from a mixture of animal sources, like meat and dairy, and plant-based sources, like legumes.

If you’re a woman, consider taking an omega-3 supplement regularly. In research involving women, the nutrient was found to lessen muscle loss during periods of immobility and more than doubled the amount of strength women gained from exercise.

Now that you know how don’t let anything hold you back from living the long and healthy life you deserve.

Sources:

Protecting your muscle is vital for healthy aging here’s why — Science Alert

Healthspan vs lifespan the vital role of muscle in successful aging — The Conversation

Low-load resistance training during step-reduction attenuates declines in muscle mass and strnegth and enhances anabolic sensitivity in older men — The Physiological Society

The effects of whey, pea, and collagen protein supplementation beyond the recommended dietary allowance on integrated myofibrrillar protein synthetic rates in older males: a randomized controlled trial — The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

The post Why muscle loss sets off a cascade of unhealthy aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And you don’t need to be a bodybuilder, either. Research shows that just five 10-minute sessions of moderate to vigorous exercise per week can lower your Alzheimer’s risk by over 30 percent!

But what if you are a bodybuilder? What if your exercise goals center around building muscle and upping your exercise performance?

Well, you may just have an edge over the rest of us…

There’s a perfectly safe bodybuilding supplement that seems to have an unexpected side effect: it may keep Alzheimer’s disease at bay — but not only that, it may keep it from progressing…

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HMB builds a better brain

Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have discovered that a muscle-building supplement called beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate or HMB, may be a safe and effective way to protect memory, reduce plaques and ultimately help prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the body, HMB is produced as a byproduct of the metabolism of leucine. Leucine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein and therefore muscle mass — making it a necessity for not only optimizing athletic performance but the daily functions of your body as well.

In supplement form, HMB is an over-the-counter supplement sold at sports and fitness stores. If you’re a bodybuilder, you may already know that it’s used to increase gains in muscle strength and size gained from exercise.

Because it is not a steroid, supplementing HMB is considered safe, even after long-term use, with no known side effects.

How HMB supports brain health

Previous studies indicate that a family of proteins known as brain-derived neurotrophic factors is drastically decreased in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Dr. Kalipada Pahan, professor of neurological sciences at Rush University, “Our study found that after oral consumption, HMB enters into the brain to increase these beneficial proteins, restore neuronal connections and improve memory and learning in mice with Alzheimer’s-like pathology, such as plaques and tangles.”

He added (and this may be the best part), “This may be one of the safest and the easiest approaches to halt disease progression and protect memory in Alzheimer’s disease patients.”

In other words, when HMB was given to mice with plaques and tangles like those seen in Alzheimer’s, it increased brain-derived neurotrophic proteins and reconnected neurons, resulting in improved memory and learning abilities.

Considering the concerns about lecanemab — the newest Alzheimer’s drug to hit the market — this research is reassuring.

Per Dr. Pahan, “If mouse results with HMB are replicated in Alzheimer’s disease patients, it would open up a promising avenue of treatment of this devastating neurodegenerative disease.”

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How to produce your own anti-Alzheimer’s factors

While taking HMB has been shown to boost brain-derived neurotrophic factors, if you’re not interested in taking the bodybuilding supplement that’s ok…

As I mentioned at the beginning of my article, exercise has been shown (in many studies) to lower the risk of cognitive decline and even Alzheimer’s. That’s because exercise alone can increase BDNF and produce measurable effects on the brain. You may have to work a little harder at it, though.

There is also a hormone called irisin that’s triggered by exercise — and in research, people and mice with Alzheimer’s have lower irisin levels than those without the disease. Human, rat and mouse brain cells with less irisin have more toxic amyloid beta proteins, the kind tied to Alzheimer’s disease.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that older adults do some form of resistance exercise at least twice a week. This can mean pushups, pullups, squats, planks or using resistance bands.

A tool called the Rate of Perceived Exertion will help you find an exercise intensity that is appropriate for you.

To determine your RPE, rate how intense an exercise or activity feels to you on a scale from one to ten, with one being the lowest and ten the highest.

For example, an activity like sitting on the sofa and watching TV might get an RPE of 1. Sprinting as fast as you possibly might get an RPE of 10. Most exercise activities will fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Being mindful of where your RPE is during exercise will help you adjust your intensity to a level that’s appropriate for you — strenuous, but not too strenuous.

You’re in control. Find the level of intensity that you can maintain, so you’ll continue your exercise routine and reap the benefits of a larger brain and better cognitive abilities.

Sources:

Bodybuilding supplement may help stave off Alzheimer’s

 — Science Daily

Muscle-building supplement β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate binds to PPARα to improve hippocampal functions in mice — Cell Reports

What is Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate? — news-medical.net

The Best Exercises for Brain Health, According to a Neuroscientist — Eating Well

The post A bodybuilding supplement may halt Alzheimer’s progression appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But now, I’m hyper-aware that these might be signs of age-related muscle loss. And the last thing I want to become is frail.

So I’ve been strength training a couple of times a week to try to head off muscle loss. I also make sure to get plenty of protein in my diet.

I’ve even been considering a pricey supplement recommended by some of the more serious weight trainers at my gym.

But recent research reminded me that I may only need a simple nutrient to ensure optimal muscle health…

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Magnesium for healthy muscles

Magnesium is crucial for blood pressure, heart rhythm, blood sugar levels and muscles — even aging muscles.

Researchers in Italy examined 20 studies to better understand magnesium’s role in skeletal muscle. In particular, they investigated the mineral’s biological effects on muscle tissue in neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). Sarcopenia is an NMD that results in loss of muscle mass and strength with aging.

They found there are several ways that magnesium supplements can help…

Preclinical research showed magnesium plays an essential role in modulating pathways affecting skeletal muscle homeostasis and oxidative stress in muscles.

“Clinical studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can improve muscle mass, respiratory muscle strength, and exercise recovery and reduce muscle soreness and inflammation in athletes and patients with various conditions,” they write in the study.

This confirms findings of a 2023 study that notes the “paramount importance” of maintaining good levels of magnesium for strong bones and muscles, especially as we age.

“Magnesium plays multifaceted roles in muscle function, including its roles in contraction, electrolyte balance, energy provision and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant defense, and has emerged as a critical mineral in preserving muscle health and functionality,” the authors of that study write.

The recommended daily intake for adults ages 31 and older is 420 mg for males and 320 mg per day for females. However, the standard American diet only contains about 50% of that, which means as much as half the total U.S. population is deficient in magnesium.

There are several ways an individual could develop a magnesium deficiency, including low magnesium intake, reduced gastrointestinal absorption and increased excretion by the kidneys. Magnesium status also tends to be low in people who consume processed foods high in fats, refined grains, sugar and phosphate.

Signs of this mineral deficiency include fatigue, muscle spasms, numbness and tingling, osteoporosis and even sleep disturbances and mood changes.

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Giving your muscles what they need

If you feel like your strength has diminished, your doctor can check your magnesium levels. However, research shows supplementation does not appear to improve strength in those who already have healthy magnesium levels. If that’s the case he may be able to help you look in other directions.

But as I mentioned above, a lot of us are deficient. Add foods high in magnesium, including green leafy vegetables, egg yolks, soybeans, brown rice, nuts, seeds and avocados to your diet and eat them often.

Supplementing magnesium is considered safe for most people, as long as it’s taken as directed. However, if you take medication for a serious condition, check with your physician just to be sure.

There are a variety of magnesium supplements, and they vary in quality. Avoid inexpensive and low-quality supplements containing magnesium oxide, which the body can’t absorb well and can have a laxative effect.

Another option is taking regular baths or footbaths in Epsom salts to lift your magnesium levels since Epsom salt is a type of magnesium (magnesium sulfate) that can be absorbed through the skin. Lotions and creams formulated with magnesium are also available.

Don’t forget your muscles also need energy — and another deficiency that often strokes mature folks could be zapping yours.

Sources:

Common Supplement Can Keep You Stronger for Longer, New Research Shows — Best Life

Role of Magnesium in Skeletal Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Diseases: A Scoping Review — International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Study: Half of All Americans are Magnesium Deficient — Pharmacy Times

Magnesium and your health — Healthdirect

Magnesium — National Institutes of Health

How to Know Which Type of Magnesium to Take for Your Health Needs — Verywell Health

Doctor Says You Might Be Taking the “Wrong” Magnesium—Here’s How to Know — Best Life

The post The simple supplement that keeps muscles stronger longer appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Consider what happens to your muscles…

Research shows we can expect a substantial loss of muscle mass and strength (known as sarcopenia), decreased regenerative capacity (meaning muscle tissue that can’t repair itself) and loss of physical function — all thanks to aging skeletal muscle.

But what drives this decline — and is it just inevitable?

To answer that question researchers looked at “primary aging” — which may involve things we can’t control — and “secondary aging,” which may play a much bigger role in weakening our muscles than previously thought…

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Two key drivers of muscle changes

The age-related loss of muscle tissue starts as early as our 40s. By age 50, we’re losing 1 to 2 percent of our muscle mass every year as our bodies become less able to convert protein into muscle. And in our 60s and 70s, this loss becomes even more rapid as we lose muscle fibers — and what fibers we still have begin to shrink.

This sets off a vicious cycle: we become less active (because it gets harder) and that directly contributes to further muscle deterioration.

A team of Russian researchers decided to dig deeper into the age-related changes that occur in skeletal muscle. What they found was that chronic inflammation and physical inactivity affected these changes more than primary aging.

In short, the study shows aging muscles are affected more by physical inactivity and chronic inflammation than they are by the aging process itself!

That’s because these two factors influence the expression of 4,000 genes that regulate processes such as mitochondrial function, protein balance and immune and inflammatory responses. These processes can influence healthy aging or — gone wrong — can make it all go awry.

By contrast, they found only about 200 genes where their expression was related to primary aging rather than other factors.

This is one more example of epigenetics, or how lifestyle impacts genes. Epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence and how it is expressed to affect your body and your health.

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A recipe for better muscle strength

It’s clear there are two things we need to do to help protect our muscles as we age: reduce inflammation and move our bodies.

Certain exercises are great for both movement and muscle-building. Walking, swimming, dancing, tennis and elliptical training all combine strength training and aerobic exercise. And yoga can actually help tame inflammation while strengthening your muscles.

Combining exercise with protein helps you build muscle mass as you get older. Including protein with every meal is especially important if you want to protect your aging muscles, as it helps boost amino acid activity.

There are a few steps you can take to tackle age-related inflammation, or “inflammaging” as some call it, while lowering levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation marker associated with reduced muscle mass.

The Mediterranean diet can quench inflammation. Try to eat plenty of these five foods.

Supplements may also help in various ways…

• Vitamin C supports immune health and has the added benefit of lowering CRP levels by 25 percent.
• Vitamin D also supports immune health — and has been demonstrated to protect against declining mitochondria related to muscle weakness.
• Omega-3s, found in fish or krill oil supplements, can curb chronic inflammation and CRP while potentially doubling muscle strength.
• The antioxidant resveratrol can also manage inflammation while giving your muscles a boost. Research shows resveratrol may help maintain muscle mass and decrease the loss of muscle fiber.

Sources:

How do chronic inflammation and physical inactivity affect age-related changes in gene and protein expression in skeletal muscle? — EurekAlert!

Age-related changes in human skeletal muscle transcriptome and proteome are more affected by chronic inflammation and physical inactivity than primary aging — Aging Cell

The post Two factors that weaken your muscles more than aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Sarcopenia is defined as age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass. The result is a gradual weakening of the body’s muscles which can accelerate the loss of muscle mass and strength.

Even worse, sarcopenia can steal your independence because it leads to frailty and can impact your mobility.

One international team of researchers decided to build on an earlier study that described novel mechanisms of sarcopenia. And according to their findings, fighting sarcopenia could be as easy as pouring yourself a morning cup of coffee…

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Trigonelline and NAD+

Levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) decrease with age, while mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, produce less energy.

The researchers knew there was a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and low levels of NAD+ and skeletal muscle aging and sarcopenia. But what was less clear to them is whether these defects result from local changes or can be mediated by systemic or dietary means.

During the study, they discovered the natural molecule trigonelline was present in lower levels in older people with sarcopenia. Trigonelline is found naturally in the body and is also especially abundant in coffee beans and fenugreek seeds.

When they provided trigonelline to preclinical cellular and animal models, it increased NAD+ levels and mitochondrial activity and helped maintain muscle function during aging.

“Our findings expand the current understanding of NAD+ metabolism with the discovery of trigonelline as a novel NAD+ precursor and increase the potential of establishing interventions with NAD+-producing vitamins for both healthy longevity and age-associated diseases applications,” says Vincenzo Sorrentino, a professor at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine).

The researchers observe that both nutrition and physical activity are important for maintaining healthy muscles during aging.

“We were excited to discover through collaborative research that a natural molecule from food cross-talks with cellular hallmarks of aging,” says Jerome Feige, head of the physical health department at Nestlé Research. “The benefits of trigonelline on cellular metabolism and muscle health during aging opens promising translational applications.”

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Getting a daily dose of trigonelline

These results add trigonelline to the list of dietary precursors to NAD+. Others include the essential amino acid L-tryptophan as well as forms of vitamin B3.

The easiest way to boost your trigonelline levels is to make coffee a part of your daily routine if it isn’t already. Even decaffeinated coffee is a great source — containing about 72 mg of trigonelline per cup and 50 to 100 percent more chlorogenic acids (recently found to encourage bone growth and block bone loss) than regular coffee.

Coffee for bone strength plus muscle strength sounds like a win all around. But like chlorogenic acids, trigonelline is degraded in roasting, so light roasted coffee will contain the most.

Now, the one drink you want to avoid drinking much of to reduce your chances of sarcopenia is alcohol. A large study out of the U.K. found that the more alcohol you drink the less skeletal muscle you have.

Finally, remember that one of the best defenses against age-related muscle loss is exercise, especially strength training. Combining exercise with dietary sources of trigonelline is sure to supercharge your efforts to preserve your muscle mass and strength.

Sources:

Natural molecule found in coffee and human body increases NAD+ levels, improves muscle function during ageing — EurekAlert!

Trigonelline is an NAD+ precursor that improves muscle function during ageing and is reduced in human sarcopenia — Nature Metabolism

Acute Effects of Decaffeinated Coffee and the Major Coffee Components Chlorogenic Acid and Trigonelline on Glucose Tolerance — Diabetes Care

The post Drink away the risk of age-related muscle loss appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In early 2023, a first-of-its-kind study proved Dr. Longo’s point, showing how calorie restriction can indeed slow the pace of aging, not just in mice, but in humans.

More recently, scientists are going back and taking a closer look at this breakthrough study to find out precisely how calorie restriction changes the body, and how these changes help us to age more slowly.

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The CALERIE study

In early 2023, researchers at Columbia University conducted the CALERIE study— which stands for Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy — the first-ever investigation into the effects of long-term calorie restriction in humans.

They chose 220 healthy and non-obese clinical trial participants who were randomly assigned to either a 25 percent calorie-restricted diet or a normal diet for two years.

They analyzed blood samples at the start of the trial, then again at 12 and 24 months, looking for chemical tags on each participant’s DNA sequence that are known to change with aging.

These measurements are sometimes referred to as epigenetic clocks. The researchers focused on three of these:

• PhenoAge and GrimAge are like the odometers of aging. They give a static measure of how much aging “mileage” a person has experienced.
• DunedinPACE is more like a “speedometer” that shows how fast the aging process is going.

Most participants were only able to restrict calories by about 12 percent, but the effect of this calorie restriction intervention on DunedinPACE represented a 2 to 3 percent slowing in the pace of aging.

This translates to a 10 to 15 percent reduction in mortality risk, which is similar to the impact of quitting smoking!

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Calorie restriction, genes, muscles and inflammation

So how exactly does calorie restriction change the body and slow the aging process?

To find out, scientists at the National Institute on Aging used thigh muscle biopsies from CALERIE participants that were collected when individuals joined the study and at one-year and two-year follow-ups.

Their analysis yielded two significant conclusions…

First, a lower caloric intake upregulated genes responsible for energy generation and metabolism, and downregulated inflammatory genes leading to lower inflammation.

In other words, restricting calories resulted in genetic changes leading to lower inflammation.

“Since inflammation and aging are strongly coupled, calorie restriction represents a powerful approach to preventing the pro-inflammatory state that is developed by many older people,” says the study’s corresponding author, Dr. Luigi Ferrucci.

And second, calorie restriction strengthened muscles.

Although CALERIE subjects lost muscle mass over the first year, they did not lose muscle strength.

Calorie restriction improved something called muscle specific force, the amount of force generated by each unit of muscle mass. With sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) being a huge factor in accelerating the aging process, this is good news indeed!

 Want to give it a try?

If you want to give calorie restriction a try but are feeling intimidated, it’s probably best to start slow. Pick one day a week and cut back your calorie intake just by 500 calories. If you can handle that two days a week, give it a go for a couple of weeks and decide if you want to try it for three days.

Or, give Dr. Valter Longo’s “longevity diet” a try. It mimics fasting but is not as strenuous.

Dr. Longo describes what eating for longevity could look like in real life: “Lots of legumes, whole grains, and vegetables; some fish; no red meat or processed meat and very low white meat; low sugar and refined grains; good levels of nuts and olive oil, and some dark chocolate.”

If you’re thinking it sounds a lot like the Mediterranean diet, you’re not wrong!

Sources:

Calorie restriction in humans builds strong muscle and stimulates healthy aging genes — Science Daily

Calorie restriction modulates the transcription of genes related to stress response and longevity in human muscle: The CALERIE study —  Aging Cell

Calorie Restriction Slows Pace of Aging in Healthy Adults —  Columbia University

New article outlines the characteristics of a “longevity diet” —  Eureka Alert

The post How calorie restriction changes your body to slow aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Offering a firm handshake when you meet someone is often taken as a sign of self-confidence. It shows that you’re interested and reflects your character. It’s also a sign of strength.

However, you may be as muscular as a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, but your handshake will reveal the true state of your health and strength — and whether you’re at risk for chronic disease and premature aging.

These are the findings of medical researchers in a study led by respiratory and sleep expert Professor Robert Adams of Flinders University in South Australia…

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Sleep apnea leads to inflammation, disease and early muscle loss

Prof. Adams and his team assessed 613 men ages 40 to 88 in the Men, Androgen, Inflammation, Lifestyle, Environment and Stress (MALES) Study.

Their goal was to measure the connection between muscle mass and grip strength in men who have obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition where the airway is closed off by soft tissue, causing a person to stop breathing for up to 30 seconds, sometimes hundreds of times per night.

The MALES study found that, no matter how muscular a man was or how much muscle mass he had, if his grip strength was weak, it indicated other underlying problems — including issues connected with aging, as well as systemic inflammation and hypoxemia (lack of oxygen in the blood).

“Without good levels of oxygen in the blood, we cannot use the muscles we have to their maximum,” says Professor Adams.

“Our findings suggest impairments in hand grip strength (HGS) may be related to fat infiltration of muscle, hypoxemia-induced reductions in peripheral neural innervation, or even endothelial dysfunction — a risk in chronic inflammation and even cancer.”

“Furthermore, considering that over a quarter of the MAILES participants have moderate to severe OSA, this suggests a large proportion of the population are at risk of early reductions in strength.”

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If you think you may have sleep apnea

According to Adelaide Sleep Institute for Sleep Health researcher Dr. David Steven, “This is important as up until now, age-related declines in strength and immobility (sarcopenia) were thought to be due to reductions in muscle which started when someone was over 60 years old. Instead, the declines in strength appear to begin at a younger age in people with obstructive sleep apnea.”

That means if you’re living with untreated sleep apnea, you could experience muscle loss at a much younger age. And that can lead to functional decline — in other words, male frailty.

Some definite signs of sleep apnea to watch for are:

●     Waking up with a very sore or dry throat

●     Occasionally waking up with a choking or gasping sensation

●     Sleepiness or lack of energy during the day

●     Waking up with a headache that goes away as you move around

●     Difficulty concentrating, or just not feeling as sharp as you used to

Your doctor can help you determine if sleep apnea is the cause and discuss treatments.

Another thing you can try is helping your body optimize oxygen levels. This is important also if you’re what’s known as a mouth breather.

Dimethylglycine or DMG for short, is a nutrient known to athletes to help give them a performance edge — thanks to its reputation as an all-natural oxygen and endurance enhancer.

DMG is created in the liver from the amino acid glycine and is involved in at least 41 different processes. Nothing, however, tops DMG’s abilities to support healthy oxygen levels in your body and optimize oxygen utilization in your cells, organs, and tissues.

You can read more about DMG here.

Sources:

Getting a grip on better health — Eureka Alert

How Hand Grip Strength, Body Composition May Influence Health of Patients With OSA — American Journal of Managed Care

The post The surprising condition causing premature muscle loss in men appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It makes your brain old before its time.

There’s ample proof of this.

Carrying too much fat around the middle reduces your brain’s ability to rewire itself after a stroke or other brain injury. This ability is known as brain plasticity.

And we also know that the brains of obese persons are changed in ways that are alarmingly similar to changes seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

Researchers have tried to find out whether going all the way in the opposite direction could actually help prevent Alzheimer’s.

What if you not only maintained a healthy weight, but worked at developing more lean muscle, too? Would this safeguard your brain?

Science hasn’t found all the answers yet, but evidence is pointing in the direction of “Yes!”

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Which comes first, loss of lean muscle or Alzheimer’s?

The connection between obesity and Alzheimer’s has been explained by the fact that with obesity comes inflammation.

Research shows that neuroinflammation is an even bigger trigger of Alzheimer’s than the amyloid-beta plaques often cited as being a cause of Alzheimer’s.

But a lack of lean muscle is also strongly associated with Alzheimer’s.

It has just not been clear whether this lack of lean muscle mass comes before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis or is triggered by the disease.

Loss of lean muscle might play a part in Alzheimer’s

To try and tease this out, a group of researchers used Mendelian randomization to obtain genetic evidence in support of a particular outcome — in this case, that lack of lean muscle precedes Alzheimer’s.

The study was quite thorough. It started with 450,243 participants from the UK Biobank.

Bioimpedance — an electric current that flows at different rates through the body depending on its composition — was used to estimate lean muscle and fat tissue in the arms and legs.

On average, higher lean muscle mass in these areas was associated with a modest but statistically significant reduction in Alzheimer’s disease risk.

This finding was replicated in a separate sample of 7,329 people with, and 252,879 people without, Alzheimer’s disease, this time measuring lean muscle mass in the trunk and whole body.

“These analyses provide new evidence supporting a cause-and-effect relation between lean mass and risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” say the researchers.

In addition, they caution that their findings need to be replicated before they are reliable enough to inform public health or clinical practice.

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Start increasing lean muscle mass now

It’s absolutely worth building more lean muscle now — and not just to lessen your risk for Alzheimer’s.

If you’re a woman going through menopause, you’ve probably noticed how much more quickly fat accumulates on your body, and how much harder it is to stay lean. This imbalance of fat and lean muscle dramatically increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Even women in their 30s and 40s can experience this significant loss of skeletal muscle known as sarcopenia, making you more susceptible to falls that end in hip fractures and disability.

Be proactive, whatever your age. Start building your lean muscle mass now, following these tips…

Weight training. Quite simply, strength training can lengthen your life. It will enable you to continue doing simple daily activities like opening jars, climbing stairs, lifting heavy bags of groceries or even just getting up out of a chair. Add omega-3s to your diet. They’ve been found to increase the fat burn and boost lean muscle mass.

Eat more frequently. That’s right! Instead of sitting down to three large meals each day, try to eat five small meals spaced three to four hours apart. This speeds up your metabolism and provides a continuous supply of nutrients to the body.

Drink plenty of water. There are lots of reasons to keep your body well hydrated, and your brain is one them.

Don’t skip meals. It slows your metabolism and your body doesn’t burn fat as efficiently.

Take it slow.  Don’t lose more than a pound or two per week. If you’re losing weight at a faster rate, you are most likely losing lean muscle mass along with unwanted fat.

Sources:

Higher levels of lean muscle might protect against Alzheimer’s disease — Eureka Alert

Genetically proxied lean mass and risk of Alzheimer’s disease: mendelian randomisation study — BMJ Medicine

The post More lean muscle may lower Alzheimer’s risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Studies have shown that “exercise snacking,” that is, getting your exercise in a little at a time throughout the day, rather than in one marathon session, is better at controlling blood sugar than one marathon session.

But there’s one more consideration anyone with diabetes needs to consider to get the best workout for better blood sugar control…

And that’s the time of day they exercise…

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Afternoon workouts are best for blood sugar control

Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Joslin Diabetes Center, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School, took a look at whether physical activity at certain times of day was associated with greater improvement in blood glucose control.

They used data from the first and fourth years of the Look AHEAD study, a ten-year study that looked at weight gain among patients with type 2 diabetes.

The researchers analyzed physical activity data from the first and fourth years of the Look AHEAD study, which included data from over 2,400 participants.

Upon examining data from year one, they saw that patients who engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in the afternoon had the greatest reduction in glucose levels.

When they compared this with data from year four,  the group who exercised in the afternoon maintained a reduction in blood glucose levels.

In addition, the group who exercised in the afternoon also had the highest chance of completely stopping their glucose-lowering medications.

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Be picky about what type of exercise you choose

Not all exercise is helpful when it comes to blood sugar control. Some, including heavy weightlifting, sprints, HIIT and competitive sports can make it harder to manage. These cause the body to produce stress hormones (such as adrenaline).

Adrenaline raises blood glucose levels by stimulating your liver to release glucose. Exercise that’s too hard also makes it harder for your muscles to use insulin.

You’re better off choosing moderate-intensity workouts, doing sit-ups, push-ups and resistance exercises — like weight training with light weights. According to experts, more muscle mass helps the body better handle blood sugar. That’s because working muscle first uses stored sugars and then blood sugars for energy.

Hiking is also a good recommendation because, during longer exercise, muscles take up more glucose.

And if you need another good reason for working out later in the day, here’s more…

Not only does the research we’ve discussed here make it a good choice, but the natural rise in blood glucose that occurs between about 4:00 and 8:00 a.m. (known as the ‘dawn phenomenon’), can send your glucose levels even higher.

Remember, exercise gets harder the less you do, so find something you enjoy that works well for keeping your blood sugar in check — and stick with it.

Never stop taking any medication without consulting with your physician.

Source:

Afternoon exercise linked with greater improvements in blood sugar levels for patients with type 2 diabetes — Eureka Alert

Association of Timing of Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity With Changes in Glycemic Control Over 4 Years in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes From the Look AHEAD Trial — Diabetes Care

Why Does Exercise Sometimes Raise Blood Glucose (Blood Sugar)? — The American Diabetes Association

Exercise and Type 2 diabetes — WebMD

The post The best workout for better blood sugar control appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Thanks to the contradictory research on alcohol and health, it’s a question that’s stumped a lot of us in recent years.

On the plus side, moderate drinking of alcohol (especially wine) has been linked to lower risk of heart failure and diabetes and a healthier gut microbiome.

But on the minus side, alcohol consumption is associated with higher risk of atrial fibrillation, dementia, and seven different types of cancer.

Now, add to that list another condition that can increase your risk of frailty later in life…

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Alcohol can accelerate muscle loss

A U.K. research team took a look at data from nearly 200,000 participants in the UK Biobank between the ages of 37 and 73 years, with most in their 50s and 60s. The researchers studied how much alcohol these participants were drinking and compared it with how much muscle they had.

“Alcohol intake is a major modifiable risk factor for many diseases, so we wanted to find out more about the relationship between drinking and muscle health as we age,” says Professor Ailsa Welch of the University of East Anglia.

Because larger people have more muscle mass, the researchers scaled for body size. They also took into account factors that could influence muscle size, such as protein consumption and physical activity.

When taking all these factors into account, the team found that those who drank a lot of alcohol had a lower amount of skeletal muscle, a condition known as sarcopenia, than those who drank less.

“We saw that it really became a problem when people were drinking 10 or more units a day — which is the equivalent of about a bottle of wine or four or five pints,” says Dr. Jane Skinner of the University of East Anglia.

Skinner adds that because alcohol consumption and muscle mass were measured in people at the same time, the researchers can’t be sure of a causal link. Still, the results indicate it might be a good idea to cut back on the booze.

“We know that losing muscle as we age leads to problems with weakness and frailty, so this suggests another reason to avoid drinking high amounts of alcohol routinely in middle and early older age,” Welch says.

The scourge of sarcopenia

Why is maintaining muscle mass as you get older so important? It helps you avoid a condition known as sarcopenia.

This age-related muscle loss puts you at higher risk of falls and loss of mobility, not to mention the following health complications:

• Diabetes — Less muscle means your body burns less glucose, making it harder to control blood sugar.
• Osteoporosis — Research indicates sarcopenia can triple your risk for this bone loss condition.
• Dementia — One study shows people with sarcopenia were six times more likely to have cognitive impairment than those without sarcopenia.
• Heart disease — Sarcopenia is linked to a stunning 77 percent increase in cardiovascular disease risk, which could be related to the lack of activity it causes.

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Who drinks that much?

It’s worth noting that a lot of alcohol’s bad effects are directly linked to how much you drink — the heavier the consumption, the worse your health risks.

Still, how many people drink the equivalent of a bottle of wine in one sitting? You’d be surprised…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates about 39 million adults in the U.S. drink too much. They define “too much” as follows:

• For men, binge drinking (5 or more drinks consumed within 2 to 3 hours)
• For women, binge drinking (4 or more drinks consumed within 2 to 3 hours)
• For men, 15 or more drinks on average per week
• For women, 8 or more drinks on average per week

By these standards, it’s best to keep alcohol consumption to a maximum of one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men — and perhaps better to choose resveratrol-rich red wine or lager over hard liquor.

Sources:

Heavy drinkers risk muscle loss, new study finds — EurekAlert!

About 38 Million Adults in the US Drink Too Much — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post Alcohol and aging add up to accelerated muscle loss appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

She does yoga every day and goes for long walks several times a week. Her pace may not be as brisk as it used to be, but isn’t that just a normal part of the aging process?

Maybe, but it doesn’t mean we need to sit back and wait to see what happens…

In recent years, changes in muscle function during aging have been tied to functional decline and frailty.

I think that’s something we’d all like to avoid as long as possible, especially considering what a decrease in muscle function can signal about the brain…

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A sinister sign of late-life dementia

Muscle function isn’t just connected to the strength of the body. Over the years, it’s been tied to the health of the brain as well.

That’s why researchers in Australia decided to investigate the relationship between muscle function and dementia. Using data from a longitudinal study of aging on more than 1,000 women with an average age of 75, they measured the women’s grip strength and had them perform a timed-up-and-go (TUG) test.

A TUG test tracks the time it takes someone to rise from a chair, walk three meters, turn around and sit back down. Grip strength is just what it sounds like.

The tests were performed twice — once at the beginning of the study and again five years later to measure any loss of performance.

They also tracked the women over 15 years to monitor for any dementia-related hospitalizations or deaths. Almost 17 percent of the study participants experienced one of these events.

When comparing the data, the researchers found lower grip strength and slower TUG were significant risk factors for presenting with dementia. These risks were independent of genetic risk and lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking alcohol and levels of physical activity:

• The weakest and slowest: Women with the weakest grip were more than twice as likely to have a late-life dementia event than those with the highest grip strength. And women who recorded the slowest TUG test were more than twice as likely to experience dementia as the quickest individuals.
• The biggest decline: Participants who experienced the biggest decline in grip strength over the 5 years were twice as likely to have had a dementia event compared to those who recorded the smallest decline in performance. And those with the largest drop in TUG speed over the 5 years were 2.5 times more likely to have experienced a dementia event.
• Risk of death: TUG performance also played a role in dementia-related death risk. Women with the largest drop in their TUG test results were more than four times as likely to experience dementia-related death.

Senior researcher Dr. Marc Sim says the overlapping nature of cognitive and motor decline could be a reason for the correlation between grip strength and brain health.

“Incorporating muscle function tests as part of dementia screening could be useful to identify high-risk individuals, who might then benefit from primary prevention programs aimed at preventing the onset of the condition such as a healthy diet and a physically active lifestyle.”

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Avoiding a decline of body and mind

Luckily mom’s grip is still strong, and she’s still able to rise from her seat and walk relatively quickly.

I give some credit for the latter to her yoga practice. Yoga is great for balance and for keeping the muscles of your arms, back, legs and core strong and flexible. Plus, it can give you a bigger brain.

But I realized I could be affected too, so I did a little more research. There are some conditions to watch out for as we age that could contribute to muscle or motor decline:

• Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass, strength and functionality associated with aging. You can read more here about how to stay strong enough to reduce the dementia risk associated with the condition.
• Dynapenia is a close cousin to sarcopenia. People with dynapenia are more likely to experience decline in quality of life, frailty and falls. But it’s not just an age problem and exercise isn’t enough. It’s connected to vitamin D deficiency. In a major study, adequate supplementation reduced the risk of the condition in older adults by 78 percent.

Sources:

Slowing down in your old age? It may be a dementia warning sign — Edith Cowan University

Impaired muscle function, including its decline, is related to greater long-term late-life dementia risk in older women — Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle

The post What your get-up-and-go says about a sinister sign of aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And, we all want to avoid the disabling hip fractures that can accelerate our physical decline.

But did you know that losing muscle mass as you age may be even more dangerous to your health?

It’s a lot more serious than experts once thought. The gradual deterioration of your muscles increases the risk of diabetes, heart attack and dementia.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to slow down this particular part of the aging process…

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Sarcopenia: What it is, who is at risk

The loss of muscle mass due to the natural aging process is known as sarcopenia.

Most people begin losing muscle tissue around age 40. With this loss comes a gradual reduction in muscle strength and function. By age 50, as our body becomes less able to convert protein into muscle, we are losing one percent to two percent of our muscle mass every year.

In our 60s and 70s, this loss becomes even more rapid. We lose muscle fibers, and the ones we have are shrinking.

Other signs of sarcopenia include loss of endurance, poor balance, and trouble with everyday tasks like climbing stairs, rising from a chair, even opening a jar.

As our muscles weaken, a vicious cycle begins: it starts with less physical activity that leads to sedentary behavior and greater deterioration.

What causes age-related muscle loss?

Several things happen as we age that contribute to sarcopenia.

• Our bodies become less able to produce the protein our muscles need to grow.
• Changing levels of hormones like testosterone and IGF-1 affect muscle growth and mass.

Lifestyle habits play an important role in how rapidly our muscles deteriorate. A sedentary lifestyle, as well as poor nutrition, contribute to the development of sarcopenia.

According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, up to 41 percent of women and 38 percent of men over age 50 eat less than the recommended daily allowance of protein.

Why is sarcopenia so dangerous?

Aside from the obvious risks of falling and loss of mobility, research is linking sarcopenia to other devastating health complications:

• Diabetes – With less muscle, less glucose is burned, making it harder to control blood sugar. Of course, diabetes is often accompanied by other complications like nerve pain, vision loss, and kidney disease.
• Osteoporosis – Studies link sarcopenia with a tripled risk for osteoporosis.
• Dementia – In a study published in Clinical Interventions in Aging, people with sarcopenia were six times more likely to have cognitive impairments than those without sarcopenia.
• Heart disease – Sarcopenia is linked to a 77 percent increased risk for cardiovascular disease, perhaps related to the lack of physical activity it causes

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How you can keep your muscles strong

As with many health conditions, there are two arenas where you can meet sarcopenia head-on: nutrition and exercise.

Dr. John Morley, director of geriatric medicine at St. Louis University School of Medicine, and Dr. Michael Grossman, an anti-aging specialist, offer these pointers for slowing down muscle loss as you age…

Load up on protein. In a three-year study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, older adults who ate the most protein lost 40% less muscle than those who ate the least.

Try to get most of your protein from naturally protein-rich foods, rather than from protein-fortified products. Dr. Grossman recommends at least four ounces of protein-rich food daily.

If you like milk, you’re in luck. Whey protein is rich in three amino acids that make up 35 percent of muscle protein. Whey protein powder is also a good option if you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet.

One caution: If you have kidney disease, check with your nephrologist to determine what level of protein intake is healthy for you.

Take Vitamin D. Sufficient levels of this vitamin are crucial for both bone and muscle health. It helps control low-level inflammation that destroys muscle protein.

Get your omega-3s. In a 2012 study, women in their sixties who took fish oil supplements saw significantly greater improvements in muscle strength as a result of strength training.

Exercise

Even if you eat protein, the right kind of exercise is the only way to build muscle.

Walking, swimming, tennis, dancing, and elliptical training are great ways to combine strength training and aerobic exercise, and to work both your upper and lower body muscles.

A note: strength training appears to be good for the mind as well.

A group of Australian researchers had people 55+ do weight-lifting exercises. The subjects all had mild cognitive impairment (which often precedes Alzheimer’s)

After exercising twice a day for six months, the subjects showed a direct correlation between increased muscle strength and improved cognitive functioning.

The post Why sarcopenia is dangerous: Diabetes, heart disease and dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Needless to say, I’ve pretty much avoided them most of my life.

But reading the research has convinced me that beets, particularly in liquid form, are a powerful way I can promote healthier, more elastic blood vessels, a “younger-acting” brain, a stronger heart and more endurance… I’d be foolish not to make beets part of my diet.

And now, science is figuring out that not only can beets up my endurance for just about any activity — they can help my muscle get more out of every workout…

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Dietary nitrate: the key ingredient

Dietary nitrate is the active molecule found in beetroot juice.

The important thing to know about nitrate is that it helps the body produce nitric oxide (NO), a signaling molecule that tells blood vessels to relax, expand and open wide so that blood can flow easily to all parts of the body.  

This, of course, has a positive effect on blood pressure and heart rate.

Recent research, though, points to NO’s ability to lend more endurance to our muscles. This is significant when it comes to exercising, but it matters a lot more than that…

Nitrate makes muscles almost ten percent stronger

It is already well-known that dietary nitrate boosts endurance and makes high-intensity exercise easier.

But researchers at the University of Exeter and the U.S. National Institutes of Health wanted to find out precisely where in the body dietary nitrate is active, so they could get some clues on the mechanisms that are at work.

They worked with ten healthy volunteers, tracing the distribution of orally ingested nitrate in their saliva, blood, muscle, and urine.

An hour after taking dietary nitrate, participants were asked to do sixty contractions of the quadriceps (the muscle in the thigh that’s active when you straighten your knee).

The researchers found a significant increase in nitrate levels in the muscle as a result.

But not only that: this nitrate “boost” caused a seven percent increase in muscle force.

In other words, the presence of nitrate made the muscle stronger.

“Excitingly, this latest study provides the best evidence to date on the mechanisms behind why dietary nitrate improves human muscle performance,” says Andy Jones, Professor of Applied Physiology at the University of Exeter.

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Good for more than just exercise and endurence

“This study provides the first direct evidence that muscle nitrate levels are important for exercise performance, presumably by acting as a source of nitric oxide,” says Dr. Barbora Piknova, research collaborator and staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health.

But Dr. Piknova doesn’t stop there.

“These results have significant implications not only for the exercise field, but possibly for other medical areas such as those targeting neuromuscular and metabolic diseases related to nitric oxide deficiency.”

What exactly are those metabolic risks? Decreased blood flow and high blood pressure for starters.

It’s pretty clear that this weird vegetable I’ve been avoiding all my life is powerful stuff!

The good news is, there are plenty of ways to get your beets. A quick Google search can provide plenty of recipes, like beet wraps with hummus.

One of the easiest ways to boost your nitric oxide is by drinking beet juice. One eight-ounce cup of beet juice contains approximately four beets, so expect to get four times the nutrients from drinking just one glass of this superfood.

Beetroot juice is available in most grocery stores, and on the health food aisle, you’ll probably find beet powder, to mix with water, juice or smoothies.

L-arginine, in supplement form or available in most protein-rich foods, can also help the body produce NO, in case you just can’t embrace beets.

Sources:

Dietary nitrate — found in beetroot juice — significantly increases muscle force during exercise — Science Daily

15N-labeled dietary nitrate supplementation increases human skeletal muscle nitrate concentration and improves muscle torque production — Acta Physiologica

Beetroot peptide as potential drug candidate for treating diseases — Science Daily

The post Pre-workout veggie boosts muscle nearly 10% appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Dynapenia is defined as a loss of muscle strength that’s not caused by neurological or muscular diseases. As with sarcopenia, it’s related to aging and is a major risk factor for physical incapacity later in life.

People with dynapenia are more likely to experience decline in quality of life, frailty and falls. All of these can lead to disability and even death among older adults.

That’s why we’re constantly reminded to use or lose it. But have you noticed the older you get, the weaker your muscles feel — no matter how hard you try?

That’s because it’s not just an age problem and exercise isn’t enough…

The “D” problem in dynapenia

To start, researchers in Brazil and the United Kingdom selected a sampling of data for a group of individuals ages 50 and over — without dynapenia — from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

And, because grip strength is considered a strong indicator of overall muscle strength, that data was gathered for each participant. Any readings that fell below 26 kg for men and 16 kg for women at the end of the 4-year follow-up were found to indicate dynapenia.

As to the cause?

Well, results showed that:

• Participants with vitamin D deficiency had a 70 percent higher risk of developing dynapenia by the end of the 4-year study period than those with normal vitamin D levels.
• On the flip side, vitamin D supplementation was shown to reduce the risk of dynapenia in older people by 78 percent.

“This is itself an important finding as it shows that vitamin D deficiency heightens the risk of muscle weakness by 70 percent,” says Maicon Luís Bicigo Delinocente, first author of the study. “However, because we knew there are many worldwide cases of people with osteoporosis who take vitamin supplements, we needed to try to measure the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation.”

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To do that, the researchers conducted an analysis that excluded individuals with osteoporosis and those who were already supplementing with vitamin D. Here’s what they found:

• The risk of developing muscle weakness by the end of the study was 78 percent higher for subjects with vitamin D deficiency.
• A vitamin D insufficiency was just as problematic. The risk for muscle weakness was 77 percent higher for those with insufficient levels of the vitamin than those with normal levels.

Tiago da Silva Alexandre, an author of the article and a professor at Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil, observes one of vitamin D’s many roles is to help repair muscles and release calcium for muscle contraction kinetics. It has also been shown that the activity of the vitamin D receptors on muscle decreases with aging.

He also noted that the study analyzed data for people living in the U.K., where there are many fewer days of sunlight than in Brazil. And yet, Brazil is known to have high rates of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency. “Indeed, this is the case worldwide,” he says.

Determining your vitamin D levels

“It’s necessary to explain to people that they risk losing muscle strength if they don’t get enough vitamin D,” Alexandre says. He recommends getting safe sun exposure, eating foods rich in vitamin D or taking a vitamin D supplement.

How do you know if you’re vitamin D deficient? The best way is to have your doctor test your vitamin D levels via a blood draw. However, if you’re having trouble getting a doctor’s appointment and want to get quicker results, you can use a home test kit from a company like Everlywell or myLAB Box.

But remember, this research indicated that a deficiency should not be your only concern. An insufficiency was just as harmful to muscle health.

More doctors are coming around to prescribing high doses of vitamin D for deficiency. When I was diagnosed with deficiency my doctor did. But they may not be so quick to write a script if they consider your levels merely insufficient, though this study is not the first to indicate a correlation between insufficiency and health problems.

Vitamin D supplements are available in dosages ranging from 400 IU, 800 IU, 1000 IU, and upwards to 2000 IU, 5000 IU and 10,000 IU. When choosing a vitamin D supplement, make sure it’s vitamin D3, which is almost twice as effective as vitamin D2 at raising vitamin D levels. 

Sources:

Vitamin D deficiency increases risk of losing muscle strength by 78% — Agência FAPESP

Are Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency and Insufficiency Risk Factors for the Incidence of Dynapenia? — Calcified Tissue International

Management of Dynapenia, Sarcopenia, and Frailty: The Role of Physical Exercise — Journal of Aging Research

What is dynapenia? — Nutrition

The post The ‘d’eeper problem behind age-related muscle weakness appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

I love munching on vegetables and hummus during my afternoon break, or popcorn and spiced nuts while watching a TV show.

As hard as I try to keep these snacks healthy, indulging too much or too often can still lead to weight gain.

That’s why I’m adding a different flavor of snack to my daily routine — one that also addresses another health danger many of us face nowadays….

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The benefits of activity ‘snacks’

There’s a raft of research that proves how bad too much sitting is for your health. A sedentary lifestyle has been linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, among other issues. It also raises your risk of premature death.

When you sit for prolonged periods, it hurts the body’s ability to process fats and filter sugar from the blood following a meal. Blood flow slows down, allowing fatty deposits to build up in the blood vessels. Your bones and muscles also grow weaker.

Unfortunately, a lot of us have jobs that require us to sit for extended periods of time. Add in all the sitting we do in our cars and homes, and it’s a recipe for health problems.

This is where activity “snacks” come in…

Research shows that interrupting prolonged sitting with short, periodic bursts of activity may help maintain muscle mass and quality. And the good news? It doesn’t take much to make a big difference!

For instance, interrupting long periods of sitting every 30 minutes with two minutes of moderate-intensity walking or 15 sit-to-stand squats from a chair allows the body to use more of the amino acids from your meals. This builds new muscle proteins to help repair or replace old or damaged proteins. It also improves the body’s ability to clear the sugar we consume.

Another good time to snack on activity is right after a meal. Researchers note that moving after we eat can improve our nutrition and allow for more efficient use of dietary amino acids from smaller meals or lower-quality proteins.

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Different ‘snacks’ for different situations

Need even more incentive to add short bursts of activity to your day?

According to Matthew Ahmadi, PhD, of the University of Sydney, Australia, lead author of a study published in European Health Journal, “… accumulating vigorous activity in short bouts across the week can help us live longer. Given that lack of time is the most commonly reported barrier to regular physical activity, accruing small amounts sporadically during the day may be a particularly attractive option for busy people.”

So, if you spend the majority of your day sitting, try out activity “snacks.” They’re a lot better for you than chips or candy, and they’ll help you kick that excuse about not having time to exercise to the curb.

Of course, there’s a chance you may work in an office where you can’t walk away from your desk every 30 minutes. If that’s the case, definitely try doing 15 of those body-weight sit-to-stand squats every 30 minutes instead of going for a walk. You can do the squats right from your office chair, and they may even take less than two minutes (I timed it).

You may be someone who needs more variety in their workout. Luckily, you can find plenty of two-minute workouts online that go way beyond squats. This two-minute video mixes squats with other moves to make up a quick full-body routine that’ll keep you from getting bored.

If you are able to get away from your desk but find 30-minute interruptions to be too frequent, you can try taking a two-minute walk every hour. Walking for two minutes for every hour you’re awake (about 16 hours a day) will help you burn an extra 400 calories every week and help keep your blood flowing and muscles strong.

Sources:

Activity ‘snacks’ following meals may help maintain muscle mass: Study — University of Toronto

Walking or body weight squat “activity snacks” increase dietary amino acid utilization for myofibrillar protein synthesis during prolonged sitting — Journal of Applied Physiology

How Sitting Too Much Can Lead to Heart Disease — Beaumont Health

The post Sit a lot? Activity ‘snacks’ counter the harm and maintain muscle appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

One of the health problems that arises when we gain weight is an increase in the body’s inflammation. The extra fat carried around the middle leads the immune system to overproduce cells that can interfere with the function of various organs. The result is a greater susceptibility to chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes.

However, Granny Smith apples, according to lab tests at Washington State University, may help limit this inflammation and, at the same time, aid in eliminating some of those extra pounds.

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An apple a day keeps the fat away

The dietary fiber and other natural substances (“nondigestible compounds”) in Granny Smiths are particularly adept at nourishing the digestive tract’s probiotic bacteria that keep digestion functioning smoothly.

“We know that, in general, apples are a good source of these nondigestible compounds but there are differences in varieties,” says researcher Giuliana Noratto, a food scientist. “Results from this study will help consumers to discriminate between apple varieties that can aid in the fight against obesity.”

Granny Smiths are a concentrated source of the natural substances preferred by probiotic bacteria. They are also lower in sugar, which might otherwise promote the growth of harmful microbes.

Noratto believes that the apples can support the growth of probiotic bacteria associated with less body fat. She notes that harmful bacteria can dominate the bacterial communities living in the digestive tract of overweight people.

“What determines the balance of bacteria in our colon is the food we consume,” she said.

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There’s more: Less fat, more muscle

Many individuals often peel their apples before eating them, discarding a part of the fruit that is known to be rich in nutrients. However, researchers at the University of Iowa are aware of one additional reason why consumers should opt to keep their apples intact: the skin contains a compound that may help stave off muscle loss.

“Many of us know from our own experiences that muscle weakness and atrophy are big problems as we become older,” said Dr. Christopher Adams, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa, in a press release. “These problems have a major impact on our quality of life and health.”

In research modeling using elderly mice, researchers found that rodents that ate food supplemented with ursolic acid — a component of apple peels — had a 10 percent increase in muscle mass and a 30 percent increase in muscle strength, equivalent to regaining muscle ability to that of a young adult.

These muscle-boosting compounds may one day be added to foods, supplements or drugs. But there’s no reason for you to wait for that to start beefing up your muscles. Just wash your apple thoroughly, choose organic apples if possible, and leave the peel on to benefit from its nutrients.

The post Get thinner with the right kind of apple appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

After all, exercise is one of the most important cornerstones to a healthy life, conferring benefits that slow brain aging, support liver health, increase lifespan, improve mental health and much, much more.

And in recent years the importance of resistance exercise, like weight-lifting, has really come to the forefront. It’s important for strong bones, to slim a fatty heart, to reduce diabetes risk and to lower risk of death from heart attack and stroke.

But top of mind for most of us is quality of life as we age. And lifting weights is one of the best ways to avoid frailty.

Still, if you’re like me you have questions about how much and how often you have to trudge over to the gym to reap these benefits — and where do we find the time?

Well, I’ve found the answers and I think you’re really going to like this as much as I did…

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No mountain of work required

A team of researchers from Edith Cowan University set out to find the answer to those questions — in just four weeks.

They put three groups of participants to the test, each performing a simple arm resistance exercise known as an eccentric contraction.

That’s what you and I would call a bicep curl using a dumbbell.

Two groups performed 30 of these contractions per week. But while one group did six contractions a day for five days a week, the other crammed all 30 into a single day.

And the third group only performed six contractions one day a week.

So which group was the winner when it came to muscle strength and size?

Well, it turns out, it was the people who lifted weights more often, but did fewer reps. That was the group that did six dumbbell curls five days a week.

In fact, the researchers discovered that while the group that did 30 contractions all at once experienced a 5.8 percent increase in muscle size in just four weeks, they didn’t improve their strength at all.

And the group that only did six contractions once a week had no improvements whatsoever.

On the other hand, the people who performed just six contractions, but did it five times a week, benefitted from a more than 10 percent increase in muscle strength. Plus they grabbed the same improvement in muscle size as the group that did 30 contractions all at once.

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Go for frequency, not volume

According to Exercise and Sports Science Professor Ken Nosaka, the takeaway is that small amounts of exercise done regularly can provide big benefits.

“People think they have to do a lengthy session of resistance training in the gym, but that’s not the case,” he said. “Just lowering a heavy dumbbell slowly once or six times a day is enough.”

But there’s one more thing to remember.

While frequency is key, you can exercise too often, which is why the researchers gave their study participants two days per week off from lifting weights.

“Muscle adaptions occur when we are resting; if someone was able to somehow train 24 hours a day, there would actually be no improvement at all,” said Professor Nosaka. “Muscles need rest to improve their strength and their muscle mass, but muscles appear to like to be stimulated more frequently.”

So instead of hitting the gym once a week, try doing a little bit of exercise each day at home to improve your muscle strength and enjoy living long and strong.

Sources:

Exercise answer: Research shows it’s how often you do it, not how much – EurekAlert!

The post Workout revelation means less time at the gym and more muscle appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s called sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is a loss of muscle mass that according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) begins around the age of 40 and kicks into high gear when you reach your 60s and 70s.

And while some may say that it’s just a normal part of aging, I don’t think there’s anything normal about becoming frail, worrying about being able to open a jar of pickles or even standing up on your own — not to mention falling.

Luckily, thanks to research from the University of Ottawa, a common ingredient in skin anti-aging formulations may be able to help keep muscles firm and strong as well in the face of sarcopenia…

The alarm clock for muscle stem cells

Those Ottawa researchers found the secret by taking a look at damaged muscle, discovering that when damage happens and muscle loss begins, stem cells must work together with immune cells to complete the repair process.

And the only way that happens is if a certain acid is present to make it all work…

It’s known as hyaluronic acid.

Yes, the very ingredient already used in cosmetics to help firm and plump the skin — as well as in injections for osteoarthritis.

The researchers explained its helpful role for your muscles…

“When muscles get damaged, it is important for immune cells to quickly enter the tissue and remove the damage before stem cells begin repair,” said Dr. Jeffrey Dilworth, senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa and senior author on the study. “Our study shows that muscle stem cells are primed to start repair right away, but the immune cells maintain the stem cells in a resting state while they finish the cleanup job. After about 40 hours, once the cleanup job is finished, an internal alarm goes off in the muscle stem cells that allows them to wake up and start repair.”

And the key ingredient in that repair process is hyaluronic acid.

“Interestingly, aging is associated with chronic inflammation, muscle weakness and a reduced ability of muscle stem cells to wake up and repair damage,” said lead author Dr. Kiran Nakka. “If we could find a way to enhance hyaluronic acid production in the muscle stem cells of older people it might help with muscle repair.”

The future of your muscles

This means that, eventually, sarcopenia could be a thing of the past thanks to hyaluronic acid.

But in the meantime, why wait? Suffering the abnormal ravages of sarcopenia is for the birds.

Especially when some readily available nutrients have been proven the help…

Let’s start with resveratrol…

Harvard researchers have studied the antioxidant for its power to help astronauts maintain strong muscles in the face of long missions in zero gravity. In their experiments, rats who received resveratrol maintained more muscle mass and lost less muscle fiber.

Another study at Georgetown University also found resveratrol has major restorative powers for your muscles.

Next up is an omega-3 supplement…

In fact, several studies give this important nutrient major credibility for helping fight age-related muscle loss…

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that older women who do resistance training and take omega-3 supplements more than doubled the amount of strength gained from exercise. Women who took the supplement were 34 percent stronger after 18 weeks, while women who didn’t take the supplement were only 16 percent stronger.

A 2015 study showed that taking a fish oil supplement slowed the loss of muscle mass and function in older men and women. And a 2011 study showed that omega-3s enhanced muscle protein synthesis (the bodily process that helps muscles grow) in older men and women.

Sources:

Sarcopenia: What you need to know – MedicalNewsToday

Hyaluranic acid, a naturally occurring compound, awakens stem cells to repair damaged muscle – ScienceDaily

The post Hyaluronic acid: From firming skin to fighting age-related muscle loss appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Aging accelerates muscle loss through a process called sarcopenia, which kicks in after age 40 and can result in your muscle mass declining by as much as 40% by the time you are 80 years old.

Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity can make it worse, causing you to grow weaker with each passing year. Even worse, this gradual deterioration of your muscles also increases the risk for diabetes, heart attack and dementia.

But there’s a habit you can pick up today to help slow the effects of sarcopenia — weight training.

Researchers have been exploring the exact mechanisms behind heavy weight training’s influence on muscles after 40. And a recent study makes one thing clear: it’s never too late to get started….

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Heavy weights get your nerves and muscles working together

In a recent University of Copenhagen study, a group of men around the age of 70 did heavy weight training three times a week for four months. Their regimen consisted of three mandatory lower-body exercises: leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls. They also had the option of adding two upper-body exercises. The weight load was continuously adjusted to require a high level of exertion in every training set.

The results were impressive. According to researchers, the participants were already seeing significant improvements in fitness and muscle size at the halfway mark of the study.

Casper Søndenbroe, a University of Copenhagen postdoc and one of the researchers behind the study, credits these improvements to a stronger connection between the nerves in the spinal cord and your muscles.

“This will protect the body’s functional ability and reduce the risk of motor neuron death in the spinal cord, which is key to having a well-functioning body,” Søndenbroe says.

Here’s how the nerve-muscle connection works…

Every time you move, your brain sends a signal to the motor neurons in the spinal cord. These neurons then pass the message on to the muscles that they’re to move in a certain way.

The process remains the same whether you’re walking your dog, lifting a glass of water or doing your daily fitness run. But, as the University of Copenhagen study shows, the specific action of lifting heavy weights appears to make those connections stronger, improving physical strength and mobility — both of which tend to decline with age.

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Never too old to begin

One encouraging finding is that even if you begin heavy weight training later in life, your body can still benefit. “Of course, the sooner you start, the better, but it is never too late — even if you are 65 or 70 years old,” Søndenbroe says.

However, he cautions that weight training can’t prevent the gradual decline in fitness and connection between the muscles and nerves that occurs with age — it can only slow it down. That’s why if you’re younger, you should begin heavy weight training now to build up those connections and give you a head start fitness-wise as your body ages.

And there are other benefits to weight training as well, including increased testosterone, less fat, lower risk for type 2 diabetes and improved stability and balance. In addition, men who weight train have a better chance of avoiding estrogen dominance and a longer life expectancy than those who don’t.

More research will help determine which specific mechanisms are involved in heavy weight training that cause it to strengthen those muscle-nerve connections.

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What exactly is “heavy” weight training?

In men, early signs of functional decline such as muscle weakness, are indicative of encroaching male frailty. So don’t put off til tomorrow what you can start today.

If you’re considering embarking on a heavy weight training program, here are a few things to consider. First, you should always consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise program, especially one that can be intense (like heavy lifting). They’ll be able to go over your health history and determine whether it’s safe for you to start lifting heavy weights regularly.

If your doctor gives the okay, you need to figure out what a “heavy” weight means for you. It should be a weight that requires a good effort for you to lift, but not so heavy that you hurt yourself.

Next, you need to determine how many sets and how many repetitions to do. Some people who lift heavy only do one set of one to six reps at the highest weight they can manage. Other experts recommend a minimum of three sets of eight to 12 reps per set.

So how do you decide? I like this guideline — try to lift enough weight so that by your last rep, you really feel like you couldn’t possibly do one more.

Another way to figure out what your true limits are is to consult a fitness trainer or weightlifting coach. They will be able to help you design a heavy lifting program that pushes you to maximum effort while protecting you from physical injury.

Sources:

Are you aged 40 or over? In that case, you need to do heavy weight training to keep fit — University of Copenhagen

Human skeletal muscle acetylcholine receptor gene expression in elderly males performing heavy resistance exercise — American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology

How Often Should You Do Heavy Weight Lifting Workouts? — Shape.com

Your Guide to Increasing the Weight You Lift — Self.com

The post The over-40 gym habit essential to avoid disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If I have some spare time in the morning, I’ll do some yoga. If not, I’ll walk during my lunch break. I’ve even been known to fit in a quick exercise session after dinner, though it’s not my preference.

Most experts will agree that any time you can manage to exercise is a good time. But if you’re looking to address certain conditions, you may want to pick a particular time frame and stick to it…

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The benefits of different ETODs

A few years ago a study indicated if you want to burn fat and boost metabolism, there was one specific time of day you should exercise to make the most of it — and that was mid-morning.

So it’s not surprising that another group of researchers took a deep dive into the connection between exercise timing and benefits. And, once again, their study suggests that exercise time of day (ETOD) can increase specific benefits — but there are a couple of surprises in store too: specifically, benefits that differ based on ETOD — and between women and men.

The researchers recruited 30 healthy women and 26 men between the ages of 25 and 55 to train with coaches for 12 weeks using the so-called RISE program that switches between four types of exercise depending on the day of the week. The program involved one day each of resistance, sprint interval, stretching and endurance training, as well as three rest days.

Then, to put ETOD to the test, the program was split. Each participant was randomly assigned to train exclusively either in the morning between the hours of 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. or in the evening between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.

As expected, at the end of the 12 weeks all participants showed improvement in overall health and performance regardless of what time of day they exercised. But the results also indicate that ETOD determines the degree of improvement in physical performance, body composition, cardiometabolic health and mood.

For instance…

• All female participants experienced reduced total body fat, abdominal and hip fat and lower blood pressure. But these improvements were greater in women who were exercising in the morning.
• By contrast, women who exercised in the evening experienced increases in upper body muscular strength, power and endurance, as well as an improvement in overall mood and appetite control.
• When men exercised in the evening, they showed a decrease in their ratio of total to “good” HDL cholesterol, as well as lower blood pressure, respiratory exchange ratio and carbohydrate oxidation. They also burned more fat, experienced less fatigue and reduced their risk of heart disease.

“Based on our findings, women interested in reducing belly fat and blood pressure, while at the same time increase leg muscle power, should consider exercising in the morning,” says principal investigator Dr. Paul Arciero, a professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. “However, for women interested in gaining upper body muscle strength, power and endurance, as well as improving overall mood state and food intake, evening exercise is the preferred choice.

“Conversely, evening exercise is ideal for men interested in improving heart and metabolic health, as well as emotional well-being,” he adds.

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Exercise and mealtimes

It’s important to note that in addition to the exercise regimen, the study participants followed a specially designed high-protein meal plan. For 12 weeks, participants consumed between 1.1 and 1.8 grams of protein (roughly the amount found in 13 to 22 ounces of steak) per kilogram (or 2 pounds) of body weight each day.

Another interesting thing about this study is the timing of exercise in relation to meals. Past research has indicated that exercising before eating breakfast burns double the amount of fat as exercising after breakfast— and this study seemed to confirm these findings.

The morning exercise group ate breakfast after training, then ate three additional meals at four-hour intervals. The evening exercise group ate three meals at four-hour intervals before training, then another meal after exercising. Both groups showed increased fat burning, with the morning group burning the most.

Regardless of diet and meal timing, these results reinforce something we’ve heard for years — exercise is key to wellness. No matter what your ETOD, you’ll gain plenty of benefits from regular exercise — but if you have specific goals, choose the best ETOD to make them happen.

A few words of caution, though: make sure you finish up at least two hours before you plan to turn in or it could hurt your sleep.

Sources:

When should I schedule my exercise? The question is more important than you think — Frontiers

Morning Exercise Reduces Abdominal Fat and Blood Pressure in Women; Evening Exercise Increases Muscular Performance in Women and Lowers Blood Pressure in Men — Frontiers in Physiology

How Unhealthy Is an 8-Ounce Steak? — Livestrong.com

The post How time of day (and sex) affects your exercise results appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Maybe it’s because men themselves aren’t as open about health problems they experience with age.

And maybe it’s because so much focus is put on alleviating male sexual performance — and not on other physical functions that not only affect quality of life but health and longevity.

Whatever the reason, there’s been ample research for years on the hormonal, metabolic and muscle changes that contribute to frailty in women. But you hear very little about the male equivalent.

It’s time to change that…

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Weak muscles + belly fat = functional decline in men

According to Professor Tiago da Silva Alexandre, “Impaired physical performance is the first sign of functional decline in the elderly. It’s considered a pre-clinical transition stage toward incapacity, appearing before difficulties are experienced with everyday activities such as using public transport, shopping, doing housework, cooking, bathing, getting dressed, and taking meals,” Alexandre said.

And most importantly, he adds, “Early diagnosis could help prevent older people from becoming unable to perform these day-to-day tasks.”

Prof. Alexandre and fellow researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) in Brazil assessed physical performance, considered the sixth vital sign in assessing the elderly, to help identify the earliest signs of functional decline.

They analyzed data on 3,875 people aged 60 and above and found the lowest scores on functional physical performance were among men who were abdominally obese (spare tire) and had age-related loss of muscle strength, known as dynapenia.

“Men and women alike lose muscle strength and accumulate abdominal fat as they age, but the situation is worse for men,” says Roberta de Oliveira Máximo, PhD student in Physical Therapy at Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil.

“Men lose more muscle strength than women during their lifetime and tend to accumulate abdominal fat even before they’re elderly. Abdominal fat is more active metabolically and generates low-level inflammation, with negative repercussions for muscle function. This explains the differences between the sexes, and why dynapenic abdominal obesity affects physical performance more in men.”

In other words, men with the combination of dynapenia (in this case, measured by reduced handgrip strength) and belly fat are on the road to becoming physically incapacitated before their time.

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Start now to slow functional decline

According to Alexandre, one of the main messages of their research is that identifying the dynapenic/abdominal obesity phenotype is essential to stave off the first signs of functional decline in older men.

“The clinical importance of these findings is that although dynapenic/abdominal obesity is an age-related condition, it is potentially modifiable and neglecting it has major repercussions for functional status, especially in men,” he said.

Practicing strength training, in addition to at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderately intense exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise each week, is what he advises.

But like women, changes in hormone levels can also contribute to the belly fat and muscle weakness that adds up to this functional decline.

Low testosterone levels are associated with increased fat mass (particularly central adiposity — or that belly fat they found in the study), reduced lean mass and a significant loss of muscle mass.

And surprisingly, to most, estrogen can compound the problem.

Unlike menopausal women who suffer the effects of lost estrogen, older men begin to experience both weight gain and muscle loss when their estrogen levels are too high (estrogen dominance) and their testosterone levels too low.

This combination (low-T and estrogen dominance) can help fuel the belly fat/muscle loss combo that accelerates the functional decline in men, bringing about symptoms that can make a man seem old and frail before his time, including lack of strength, energy or endurance.

Male health expert, Dr. Geo Espinoza suggests a natural substance may help balance those hormones.

DIM (short for 3, 3’-diindolylmethane) is a phytonutrient that combats estrogen dominance in men, working as a natural hormone balancer. DIM is found in abundance in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale. And, it can be taken in supplement form.

In addition, The European Congress of Endocrinology studies the hormonal effects of following a low-calorie, ketogenic diet for men whose testosterone needed a boost.

The research determined that after following the diet for four weeks:

• Bodyweight, fat mass and body mass index (BMI) significantly decreased.
• Total testosterone levels went way up.
• A substantial increase was noted in all sex hormones.
• Testicular function improved.

As far as keeping testosterone levels where they should be, it’s important to know that many common medications can cause low testosterone, including statins and antidepressants.

Sources:

Combination of weak muscles and abdominal obesity can be an early sign of functional decline in men Eureka Alert

Combination of dynapenia and abdominal obesity affects long-term physical performance trajectories in older adults: sex differences The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Testosterone and obesity — Pubmed.gov

The post Early signs of functional decline that lead to male ‘frailty’ appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But I am 65, and a bit heavier than I’d like. So what’s a gal to do if she wants to live a long, healthy life?

Well, research is on my side.

Both very recently and over the past five years or so, studies have shown that I do NOT need to break a sweat in order to reap the health benefits of physical activity.

If you’re like me, I have some good news.

It may turn out that when it comes to exercise, less may actually be more.

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60 minutes per week lengthens life

Four researchers from the Department of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan looked at the relationship between muscle strengthening exercise and mortality.

They started by analyzing 16 previous studies, covering up to 25 years of research and sample sizes up to nearly 480,000 people.

Their findings showed that muscle-strengthening activities were associated with a 10 to 20 percent lower risk of death from all causes. The risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and cancer were particularly affected.

But how much muscle-strengthening activity are we talking about? In terms of significantly reducing the risk of death, 60 minutes a week seems to be the cutoff point.

The researchers found that “the influence of a higher volume of muscle-strengthening activities on all-cause mortality, CVD, and total cancer is unclear.”

In other words, doing muscle-strengthening exercises for more than 60 minutes per week didn’t reduce mortality rates any further.

“Weekend warriors” can live longer, too

Even if you do prefer a more active exercise regimen, the good news is that you don’t have to go to extremes for it to add years to your life.

A study published in 2017 proved that one to two sessions of moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity per week is enough to reap disease-fighting benefits that can add years to your life.

What kind of activity are we talking about? A game of pick-up basketball, a long walk with a  friend, and a round of bowling all qualify.

Even better, the study showed that even if you’ve been inactive up until now, you can still extend your lifespan by 30 percent if you manage to get a little bit of active movement through exercise or activities like walking, biking, and dancing. Even tai chi, a seemingly low-exertion activity, can add years to your life if done regularly.

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More ways to live longer without “exercise”

To become more active, start where you are, and start slowly. There’s no need to from zero to a thousand here!

When people think of muscle-strengthening activities, squats, pushups and lifting weights come to mind. But did you know gardening which includes digging and shoveling also counts?

But that’s not all. Here are more muscle-strengthening activities to help you get started:

• Take a walk after dinner. Bring friends along if you can—because people who walk together have lower blood pressure, resting heart rate and total cholesterol.
• Try a yoga class. It lowers stress hormones and trains the body to handle stress more healthfully.
• Find something you love to do. If you hate going to the gym, don’t do it! In fact, dancing is the best exercise if you’re past menopause. Doing something you love with others who love it, too, can provide further motivation.

Sources:

Muscle Strengthening Linked to Lower Risk of Dying – Even in Short Amounts — Science Alert

Muscle-strengthening activities are associated with lower risk and mortality in major non-communicable diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies — British Journal of Sports Medicine

The post Live longer strengthening muscles just one hour a week appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And according to a study from a team of scientists at Tokyo Metropolitan University, what you eat could be making the situation worse.

That’s because they’ve found that a common dietary staple can actually slow down muscle repair, leaving you in pain and your muscles weak and prone to further injury.

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The sugar connection

So what’s the diet staple that has the power to block the healing process in your muscles?

Sugar!

Yup, good old glucose.

And it came as a surprise to even the Japanese scientists.

You see, conventional wisdom says that the cells in our bodies fare better when there is more sugar to fuel their activities. In other words, we need glucose for our cells to grow and proliferate.

However, it turns out that when it comes to your muscles, things aren’t so cut and dry.

Satellite cells and their impact on muscle repair

That’s because of cells found in skeletal muscle known as satellite cells.

The researchers discovered that these satellite cells are responsible for healing that daily wear and tear you experience — a process that takes place continually to keep our muscles in tip-top shape.

The cells themselves actually sit smack in the middle of two layers of sheathing that wrap around what’s called “myofiber cells” of each of your individual muscle fibers. And when damage occurs to the myofiber cells, the satellite cells kick into gear, spinning off more cells and fusing onto the myofibers — much like a bandage.

This process not only repairs the damage that’s been done to your muscles, it also prevents a loss of muscle mass.

But that process can go wrong in the presence of too much sugar.

In fact, after examining the growth of satellite cells in petri dishes, the researchers found that higher glucose levels equal slower growth.

That’s right — sugar keeps your muscles from repairing themselves.

In fact, the researchers found that a low glucose environment was just what the “doctor ordered” to stimulate muscle repair. Those same petri dish experiments showed that lower levels of blood sugar leads to an increased number of satellite cells with a greater ability to multiply, fuse to myofibers and heal your muscles.

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Keeping your muscles strong for life

So if you want to have strong muscles that are capable of repairing both your daily wear and tear and any injuries that should occur, it looks like limiting sugar is a must.

Additionally, be sure to feed your muscles by increasing your per meal protein intake and take muscle-supporting supplements.

Some that have proven effective at encouraging muscle health include:

Resveratrol, which can help encourage muscle growth even under diabetic conditions;

Omega-3s, which have been shown to protect muscle mass even in the face of immobilization;

Vitamin D, which can help our muscles stay strong, healthy and functional with age.

Sources:

Less sugar, please! New studies show low glucose levels might assist muscle repair – EurekAlert!

The post Got a muscle injury that needs healing fast? Avoid this appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

I know I am. Every day I have a seemingly endless stream of work or chores or errands that need to be done. And by the time I’ve finished it all, I have a scant hour or two to prepare and eat my meals and catch up with my husband.

But that excuse is starting to wear thin. Study after study has come out extolling the benefits of short bursts of exercise lasting 10 minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes or even 2 minutes.

Still, seem like too much time? Well, how about a routine that only takes a few seconds a day?

Get stronger muscles in three seconds

A recent study discovered that doing a particular weightlifting routine for as little as three seconds can improve muscle strength.

Researchers in Australia and Japan had healthy university students perform one bicep curl at maximum effort for three seconds per day, five days a week over four weeks. Each participant who exercised performed one of three types of bicep curls: isometric, concentric or eccentric.

While the participants performed the bicep curl, researchers measured the muscles’ maximum voluntary contraction strength before and after the four-week period.

Another group of students performed no exercise over the same period and were measured before and after the four weeks.

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Results showed an increase in muscle strength for all the participants in the exercise group. The group that didn’t exercise exhibited no increase in strength.

“The study results suggest that a very small amount of exercise stimulus — even 60 seconds in four weeks — can increase muscle strength,” says lead researcher Professor Ken Nosaka from Edith Cowan University.

“Many people think you have to spend a lot of time exercising, but it’s not the case,” Nosaka adds. “Short, good quality exercise can still be good for your body and every muscle contraction counts.”

To perform a bicep curl, you hold a dumbbell with one arm by your side, then lift the weight upwards toward the chest and lower it down via the elbow.

The names of the bicep curls relate to what the muscle is doing when activated.

When you lift the weight, your bicep is in concentric contraction, meaning the muscle is getting shorter. Lowering the weight causes eccentric contraction, which is when the muscle is lengthening. Holding the weight parallel to the ground causes an isometric contraction that keeps the muscle stationary under the weight load.

So… which type of bicep curl is best?

Eccentric wins the strength contest

Although all three lifting methods benefited muscle strength to some degree, those who did eccentric bicep curls showed an 11.5 percent increase in overall muscle strength at the end of the four weeks.

Researchers also measured each group’s concentric, isometric and eccentric strength. The concentric bicep curl group experienced a 6.3 percent rise in isometric strength but no improvement elsewhere. The isometric group had a 7.2 percent increase in eccentric strength.

The participants doing the eccentric bicep curls were the only ones who recorded improvements across all three measurements. Their eccentric strength rose 12.2 percent, concentric strength 12.8 percent and isometric 10.2 percent.

“Although the mechanisms underpinning eccentric contraction’s potent effects are not clear yet, the fact only a three-second maximal eccentric contraction a day improves muscle strength in a relatively short period is important for health and fitness,” Nosaka says.

He adds the findings are exciting for promoting physical fitness and health to address problems like sarcopenia, a decrease in muscle mass and strength that occurs with aging.

“We haven’t investigated other muscles yet, but if we find the three-second rule also applies to other muscles, then you might be able to do a whole-body exercise in less than 30 seconds,” Nosaka says. “Also, performing only one maximal contraction per day means you don’t get sore afterwards.”

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How to do an eccentric bicep curl

We’ve written before about the benefits of eccentric exercise. One study showed doing eccentric bicep curls with one arm can actually benefit muscle strength and tone in both arms, not just the arm that engaged in the exercise.

Eccentric tricep pushups are one exercise recommended for toning the back of the upper arm. And a specific type of eccentric arm exercise can help relieve almost 80 percent of the pain from tennis elbow.

When doing an eccentric bicep curl, it’s important to use a dumbbell that weighs enough to make you work for it, but not so much that you injure yourself.

First, curl the weight toward your chest by flexing your bicep, and keep lifting until the underside of your forearm presses right up against your biceps. Then, squeeze your bicep forcefully at the top of the rep. Finally, take 3 to 5 seconds to lower the weight slowly until your elbow is fully extended.

If you want to work both arms at the same time, you can use a barbell instead of a dumbbell.

As the study demonstrated, just doing this once a day for five days out of the week is enough to gain some benefit. But if you really want to build up your muscle strength, you can try doing 3 to 5 sets of 6 to 8 reps each session. Just keep in mind you’ll only want to do that extended routine 2 to 3 times a week so that you can give your muscles time to rest between sessions.

Source:

No time to exercise? What about three seconds a day? — Edith Cowan University

Effect of daily 3-s maximum voluntary isometric, concentric or eccentric contraction on elbow flexor strength — Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports

Eccentric bicep curl tutorial and exercise variations — Critical Body

The post Three seconds to stronger muscles? It’s not as crazy as it sounds appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For instance, scientists have uncovered a link between the gut microbiota and the brain they term the gut-brain axis. The health of the gut microbiome has been found to influence dementia development in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. And a gut microbiota that’s out of balance can also disrupt sleep and mental health, as well as impair memory formation and cognitive function.

And the brain is far from the only system in the body influenced by the gut microbiota. So far, researchers have identified connections between the gut microbiome and the skin, heart and immune system. They’ve also found when the microbiota is disrupted by stress or “bad” bacteria, it can trigger diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Recent research has explored the link between the gut microbiome and the health of the body’s skeletal muscles. Age-related muscle loss is a major contributor to frailty, and though we know exercise can help, it turns out the gut may have a very important role in helping us make the most of it…

Building muscle via your gut

Results of a recent study in mice proved an intact gut microbiota is necessary for muscles to fully grow following exercise.

In the study, researchers allowed mice to run on exercise wheels daily. Some of these mice were given antibiotics in their drinking water, a treatment that killed the good bacteria in their gut microbiome.

At the end of nine weeks, the researchers found that muscles of the mice with a healthy gut microbiota grew more than those of the mice without an intact microbiome. Their muscles adapted differently even though both groups had the same amount of exercise on the running wheels.

These findings indicate a healthy gut microbiome is necessary for skeletal muscles to fully grow after exercising.

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And suggests the “good” bacteria of the gut microbiota make substances that help muscles become larger after exercising.

If further study can identify these substances, researchers say they might be able to use some of them to promote muscle growth in people suffering from muscle loss caused by aging or certain diseases.

Researchers did say they weren’t sure if the antibiotics themselves directly influenced the ability of the mice’s muscles to adapt to exercise. They also note that the study exclusively used female mice, so the findings could be different in male mice.

The exercise-gut connection runs both ways

As is the case with all animal studies, it’s not known whether these findings will be the same in humans.

However, senior author John McCarthy observes that world-class runners have been found to possess a higher amount of a specific bacteria that provides additional energy, and that this bacteria is believed to help them run faster.

“Thus, the gut microbiome makes substances that appear to be important for skeletal muscles to fully adapt to exercise as well as help improve athletic performance,” McCarthy says. “We are currently trying to determine how exercise changes the composition and function of the gut microbiome.”

As we’ve noted in earlier issues, exercise has been shown to support good gut health. One study found that people who exercised regularly for six weeks developed more microbes that produce butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid that boosts intestinal cell health, lowers inflammation and creates energy.

In another study, overweight women who did endurance training over six weeks showed a decrease in proteobacteria, a type of “bad” gut bacteria linked to gut inflammation, metabolic disorders and lung disease, among other illnesses. They also had an increased level of Akkermansia, a bacteria linked to better metabolism.

So if you want to keep your gut microbiome balanced and happy, it’s probably a good idea to get a regular dose of exercise alongside your probiotics. And it doesn’t have to be a hardcore, hours-long regime — simply taking a brisk 30-minute walk a few times a week is a good place to start.

Sources:

Using the microbiome to promote muscle growth in muscle loss conditions such as ageing and cancer — EurekAlert!

Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome impairs mouse skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise — The Journal of Physiology

Trends in the Use of Complementary Health Approaches Among Adults: United States, 2002–2012 — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The post Probiotics before exercise may be the secret to muscle growth appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Healthspan is different from lifespan. The focus is on prolonging the number of healthy years you have — instead of just trying to live longer. We’ve all seen what happens to those friends or relatives who spend their later years in nursing homes or under the care of family because their bodies and minds have failed them.

To that end, most of the usual suspects including vitamin D, PQQ and resveratrol, among others — have long been part of my supplement routine.

I’d been hearing about amino acids for a while, but usually in the context of working out or athletic performance. I’m not a triathlete or marathon runner, so I didn’t think they held any value for me. If I hadn’t have decided to look further into them, I would have continued to miss out on a valuable component of shoring up my healthspan, in my opinion…

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What Exactly Are Amino Acids?

Amino acids are the foundation of protein, and therefore muscle mass — making them a necessity for not only optimizing athletic performance but the daily functions of your body as well.

That’s because they are the catalyst for nearly every physiological function that occurs in the body — including protein synthesis, enzyme production, hormone regulation, cognitive performance, neurotransmitter balance and metabolism.

Essential amino acids make up over 50 percent of every protein in your body, so a deficiency in any one of them can have detrimental effects on muscle preservation, athletic training, recovery, and much more. Whether you work out for gains or not, muscle preservation is imperative. Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, starts in your 30s, and by the time you reach your 70s, you may have lost as much as 50 percent of your muscle mass.

Out of the 20 total amino acids, nine are classified as essential. These essential amino acids (EAAs) cannot be synthesized by your body but instead must be attained through diet from protein-rich foods like meat, fish, eggs, dairy and legumes. Because I follow mostly a plant-based diet, supplementing these essential amino acids was a no-brainer for me — much in the same way that taking a krill oil capsule daily to ensure I get my omega-3 essential fatty acids is.

How essential amino acids work

Each of the EAAs plays an important role in supporting the body:

• Leucine is critical for protein synthesis, blood sugar regulation, and growth hormone production.
• Lysine plays a role in growth hormone secretion, which supports muscle repair and recovery. It’s also a critical component of structural proteins like collagen and elastin, which are important for building strong connective tissue.
• Methionine helps the body process and eliminate fat, promotes cardiovascular health and supports liver function to help the body eliminate toxins.
• Phenylalanine has a pain-killing and mood-elevating effect and is necessary for the synthesis of norepinephrine and dopamine. It also stimulates the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline, which are critical for nervous system function.
• Threonine supports fat metabolism and immune function. Like Lysine, it’s another crucial component of structural proteins and connective tissue.
• Tryptophan has pain-suppressing qualities and can increase pain tolerance during hard workouts or competitions. It’s also a precursor for serotonin, which regulates sleep, appetite and mood.
• Isoleucine helps prevent muscle from breaking down during exercise, which could lead to faster recovery. It’s also important for immune function, hemoglobin production and energy regulation.
• Valine helps stimulate muscle regeneration and plays a critical role in energy production.
• Histidine supports the nervous system and protects muscle tissues.

Additionally, EAAs support sleep, recovery, muscle maintenance, appetite regulation, energy, fasting and cognition — just to name a few. Here’s how…

• Sleep: Your body converts tryptophan into melatonin, a necessary hormone for inducing sleep. Improving sleep quality has been shown to improve athletic performance and has even been associated with lower self-reported levels of depression.
• Recovery: Post-exercise consumption of EAAs has been shown to have a positive effect on net muscle protein. In fact, one study of elite athletes showed that EAAs stimulate the anabolic process more effectively than other protein supplements.
• Muscle maintenance: EAAs, particularly leucine, are responsible for the stimulation of the anabolic state and are therefore a crucial component for building and maintaining muscle mass. EAA supplementation can help you maintain muscle even during periods of extended inactivity.
• Appetite regulation: Amino acids are inherently satiating and appetite-suppressing. This makes them a highly effective, low-calorie tool for fasting, and a great option in situations where food options are limited (like during travel).
• Fast, clean energy: Three of the EAAs — Leucine, Valine and Isoleucine — are metabolized in the muscle rather than the liver, making them readily available in the bloodstream for quick energy without a spike in blood sugar.
• Fasting: Aminos can be used to support fasting by suppressing hunger, improving energy levels, helping the body retain muscle mass, and stabilizing cognitive performance. Amino acid consumption has been shown to inhibit autophagy, so if giving your cells a detox is your primary goal for fasting, then they might not be the right choice for you.
• Cognitive performance: Essential amino acids are necessary for optimizing mental performance. Tyrosine, in particular, has been shown to improve working memory.

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How to supplement amino acids

There are plenty of amino acid supplements on the market. They commonly come in tablets, capsules and powders. As a fan of greens powders, trying an amino acid powder supplement was the most appealing to me. I often include my powdered supplements in smoothies or juice and find it’s an easy and enjoyable way to take in supplemental nutrition.

I did my homework and chose Kion Aminos. Why? 

First, Kion hired a 3rd party independent research firm to conduct a meta-analysis of all aminos research to ensure their formula is bioavailable, effective for muscle protein synthesis and recovery, and based on the latest science. 

In addition to formulating science-backed EAAs supplements that meet the needs of athletes (their formula has 40 percent leucine, which is crucial for muscle protein synthesis), they understand and acknowledge the whole body benefits of EAAs. 

Finally, Kion Aminos contains all 9 EAAs, and with a 100 percent transparent label, you know exactly how much of each amino acid you’re getting. 

Plus, they met certain criteria I require for any supplement that goes into my body:

• Clean, natural ingredients. Unlike many popular performance-enhancing supplements, Kion Aminos are pure protein. They don’t contain any added binders, fillers, stearates, coatings, dyes, added sugars, or caffeine.
• Plant-sourced ingredients. Kion Aminos are extracted from plant sources, including beans and peas. Plant proteins are extremely bioavailable and are combined to deliver a complete protein.
• Science-Backed Formula. Many amino acid supplements claim to be great for muscle growth and recovery, but they don’t share exactly how much of each EAA is responsible for those results. Kion shares the exact quantity of each EAA down to the milligram. 
• Rigorous Testing. The aminos are thoroughly tested for heavy metals and other contaminants. Each bottle is checked to make sure the exact amount of each amino listed on the label is what’s in the bottle.
• Convenience. Whether you prefer powders like me or popping a capsule, you can get both from Kion.

Since supplementing EAAs, I’ve noticed a definite improvement in my energy levels, seem to have more endurance to push myself further on my daily walks and I’m actually starting to feel a little sharper mentally.

Think of amino acids as just another part of the puzzle — like vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other cofactors — that, when you’ve got all the pieces, works together to give the human body what it needs.

Note: As managing editor of Easy Health Options, I’m fortunate to receive samples of products. Kion Aminos was glad to let me try their product for free when I came across their site during my research. I do not personally receive any compensation from them to share my experience with you. However, if you use the link I’ve provided to visit Kion Aminos, Easy Health Options will receive a small compensation from purchases made.

The post Why I’m glad I started supplementing my amino acids appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It helps your body function better longer

Dr. Geralyn Frandsen points out in a Prevention Magazine article that stronger muscles associated with more protein mean more support for your bones and lower chances of falls and fractures — one of the most common injuries among seniors. That’s because it helps support bone health by boosting the lean muscle mass that we lose with age. Loss of lean muscle mass can weaken bones and leads to the fragility so often associated with aging.

Dr. Frandsen is a professor and assistant director at Maryville University’s doctor of nursing program, which covers everything from pediatrics to gerontology. Her training and experience allow her to trace health and nutrition requirements across different age groups. Protein for adequate muscle mass and to support bone health is helpful at younger ages as well. The process of sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, begins around the age of 30.

In line with these comments, it’s a good idea to incorporate more into your diet, even with simple foods like avocado and peanut butter.

It helps you recover from illness and injury

Cell turnover, bone fragility, and muscle loss all become more prevalent as you age, meaning you’ll be more prone to illnesses and injuries, as well. Thankfully, protein can help your body repair itself faster.

This is because your body processes protein less efficiently when it’s under severe amounts of stress, such as that brought on by injuries. So, in many cases, simply increasing your intake can go a long way towards helping prevent your bones and muscles from breaking down while you’re unwell.

However, take note that high intake is not recommended for those undergoing dialysis. In fact, protein-rich diets for dialysis patients can lead to (and even further aggravate) chronic kidney disease. So, if you’re unsure of what to do, consult your doctor first before making any major dietary changes.

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Protein lowers your risk of developing comorbidities

Protein can go further by preventing you from getting sick in the first place. Studies have long shown that this nutrient may lower your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

“Protein intake may play a role in the long-term prevention of [high blood pressure (HBP)],” Lynn Moore, corresponding author and assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, explained. By consuming at least 100g of protein a day, you lower your risk of developing HBP by over 40 percent, improving your overall heart health.

Moreover, protein can also help with weight control, preventing obesity. However, when choosing protein from meat sources, be sure to avoid or eat less of those higher in saturated fats which can be harmful to heart health and lead to weight gain.

When to forego supplementing protein

As much as possible, it’s best to get your protein from whole food, so try varying your meals with white meat, a little red meat and seafood. However, as previously discussed here on Easy Health Options, protein-rich vegetables like lentils and soybeans can serve as healthy and effective protein sources. Other great plant sources of protein include beans, hummus, peas, soy nuts, tofu and tempeh.

With supplements like protein shakes, though, it’s easy to consume too much of the nutrient by mistake. This can cause intestinal distress and even strain your kidneys and liver. That’s why supplementing should only be necessary if you’re experiencing decreased appetite or can’t consume solid food.

On the whole, however, the National Cancer Institute has found that protein-rich diets can help you live longer. So feel free to include it as part of a well-balanced diet and eat to your heart’s content — while living your life to the fullest!

The post 3 ways a protein-rich diet can enrich your life appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Now, as I approach 65, I’m reading more and more about the increasing number of debilitating injuries and deaths in people my age that happen as the result of a fall.

My balance is no longer something I can take for granted. And I don’t want to end up incapacitated and unable to enjoy doing the things that give my life meaning.

But an increasing number of older people’s lives are forever changed (or ended) because of an accidental fall.

Fortunatlely, there’s a lot we can do to keep from becoming a statistic.

The statistics are frightening

Injuries and deaths related to falls in older adults are such that the problem has been described as a “hidden epidemic,” and the statistics certainly support this:

• A 2019 study found that for people over 75, the rate of mortality from falls more than doubled from 2000 to 2016.
• According to the CDC, deaths from unintentional injuries are the seventh leading cause of death in older adults, and falls account for the largest percentage of those deaths.
• Every 11 seconds, an older adult goes to an emergency room for an injury from a fall, according to the National Council on Aging.

“If deaths from falls continue to increase at the same rate, the U.S. can expect 59,000 older adults will die because of a fall in 2030,” says Elizabeth Burns, a health scientist at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, part of the CDC.

So what can you do to avoid becoming a statistic?

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Postural muscles bring balance back

George Locker, a lifelong student of martial arts and teacher of tai chi, has written a book called Falling Is Not an Option: A Way to Lifelong Balance. He says that balance isn’t a skill, nor is it something we can achieve by sheer force of will.

Rather, it’s something our body learns to do automatically by engaging our postural muscles. Given the amount of sitting most of us do these days, he says, “the postural muscles literally forget how to maintain balance, even on steady, level surfaces.”

Here are two of the exercises Locker suggests to re-train our postural muscles:

• While brushing your teeth, stand on one leg and bend the knee and ankle. Keep your pelvic muscles relaxed. This will engage your postural muscles. Use your fingertips on the sink or wall if you need additional balance.
• Stand straight with your thigh and buttock muscles relaxed, then bend your knees and ankles as if you’re about to sit on a high stool. Keep your spine straight and your pelvis relaxed. Hold this position for as long as you can, increasing the time gradually as your postural muscles get stronger, up to 15 minutes.

The ancient martial art of tai chi focuses on slow, deliberate movements while maintaining one’s balance. Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of tai chi practice on improving one’s balance.

Other ways to prevent falls

Of course, there are factors other than balance that make falls more likely. Here’s a checklist of safety improvements you can make in your home that will cut way back on the chance of your taking a fall.

Some other things to consider:

• Work on strength and resistance training. Weight lifting, Pilates, and exercises such as push-ups all build muscle.
• Walk and use stairs if you can. Join or start a walking club if it will help motivate you.
• Strengthen your quads. One way to do that is by leaning against a wall, sliding down into a squat, then standing again — and doing repetitions.
• Have your vision and hearing checked regularly. Clouded vision or impaired hearing can greatly increase your chances of falling.
• Check your medications. Talk with your doctor or ask your pharmacist about medication side effects that could increase your fall risk.
• Wear the right shoes. Find a pair that won’t make you slip.

Sources:

Mortality From Falls Among US Adults Aged 75 Years or Older, 2000-2016 — Journal of the American Medical Association

Deadly Falls in Older Americans Are Rising. Here’s How to Prevent Them. — NY Times

Striking a Balance to Avoid Dangerous Falls — AARP

Tai chi may help prevent falls — NY Times

Improving Your Balance to Prevent Falls — NY Times

The post Postural muscles: The key to reducing your fall risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s one of the leading causes of physical decline and loss of independence in older adults because it stealthily steals muscle mass just when you need it most.

It can put a kink in your plans to enjoy retirement, whether you see yourself playing golf every day, going on cruises or hosting campouts in your backyard with your grandkids — and instead leave you feeling frail and housebound.

But researchers have found that if you can improve your appetite — something else that often wanes with age — you may just prevent sarcopenia from stealing your get-up-and-go.

Healthy appetites linked to gut bacteria

Researchers from King’s College London and the University of Southampton used an appetite questionnaire to identify 102 older people who had poor appetite, and 102 older people who had a good appetite.

Then, they compared the gut bacteria of both groups and found that individuals with a poor appetite had less variety in their gut bacteria than individuals with a good appetite.

It’s a classic case of “chicken and egg.” Does poor appetite lead to eating a narrower range of foods, which in turn leads to a lack of variety in one’s gut bacteria?

Or, does eating a diet without variety limit the range of gut bacteria that are produced, and does this somehow affect one’s appetite?

At this point, the research is inconclusive on the “chicken and egg” question. But it did make another very important connection…

Poor appetite leads to weaker muscles

The researchers also found that lower appetite was associated with reduced muscle strength and function, and that gut bacteria may be a link between the two.

“A poor appetite can lead to poor nutrition and weight loss, which in turn can lead to loss of muscle bulk and so reduced muscle strength,” says Dr. Natalie Cox, Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Southampton and a lead researcher of this study.

“We know from previous research, however, that a poor appetite is also linked to loss of muscle strength, independent of overall weight loss.”

“We now need studies to understand how exactly appetite, gut bacteria and muscle function affect each other and in what order. This could inform the development of treatments in the future to preserve muscle mass and function, to improve health in older age.”

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Give your gut microbiome a fighting chance to fight age-related muscle loss

In the meantime, there’s a lot you can do to promote a healthy variety of gut bacteria to improve both your appetite and your risk of sarcopenia. And, as you might guess, it all has to do with what you eat… and what you DON’T eat.

1. Eat more fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains.

Another finding of the King’s College Study was that older people with good appetites also had more gut microbes associated with diets rich in fruits and vegetables.

One example of this is Bifidobacteria, which can help prevent intestinal inflammation. Apples, artichokes, blueberries, almonds and pistachios have all been shown to increase Bifidobacteria in humans.

Many fruits and vegetables, as well as legumes and whole grains, are high in fiber. While your body can’t digest fiber, certain healthy bacteria can, and it helps them grow.

2. Eat more prebiotic foods. Prebiotics is the name for the type of fiber that feeds the friendly bacteria in your gut.

Some of the best prebiotic foods you can eat include:

• Jerusalem artichoke
• Garlic
• Leeks
• Asparagus
• Bananas
• Barley
• Oats
• Apples
• Flaxseed
• Avocado

3. Eat foods rich in polyphenols. Polyphenols are plant compounds that reduce blood pressure, inflammation and cholesterol levels.

And, since polyphenols aren’t always digested well by our cells, they end up in the colon, where they are digested by our gut bacteria.

Polyphenol-rich foods include:

• Dark chocolate
• Red wine
• Green tea
• Almonds
• Blueberries
• Broccoli

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners. Studies have shown that sweeteners like aspartame are associated with higher concentrations of disease-causing gut bacteria.

Sources:

Appetite Linked to Healthier Gut Bacteria in Over-60s — Neuroscience News

10 Ways to Improve Your Gut Bacteria, Based on Science — Healthline

The 19 Best Prebiotic Foods You Should Eat — Healthline

The post A better variety of gut bacteria reduces age-related muscle loss appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Sarcopenia can lead to physical disability and poor quality of life.

But sarcopenia is more than just getting weaker. It’s also associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

That’s because when muscle loss occurs, it can also cause the brain’s cortex to thin and shrink. This area of the brain is essential for memory, cognition and thoughts.

Fortunately, there’s a lot we can do to slow the progression of sarcopenia and retain our strength and cognitive abilities.

Strength training can help you maintain muscle mass and strength.

Eating enough protein allows our muscle cells to continue regenerating.

And now, there’s more evidence than ever that one vitamin, in particular, can help our muscles stay strong, healthy and functional with age…

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Muscles need vitamin D to produce energy

In a study just published in the Journal of Endocrinology, scientists have found a way to reduce the risk of age-related muscle loss in older adults.

For this study, British and Australian researchers used mice to see whether a vitamin D deficiency would impair the function of mitochondria in skeletal muscle cells.

Mitochondria are the “energy factories” of our cells. They process the energy we take in from the food we eat and make it available for our bodies to use.

The researchers theorized that mitochondria need vitamin D in order to function optimally.

For three months, the mice were either fed a diet with normal amounts of vitamin D or with no vitamin D at all.

After three months, the mice with a vitamin D deficiency had about a 40 percent decline in mitochondrial function in their muscles, possibly impacting their ability to convert energy from food and limiting muscle performance and recovery, according to the researchers

“Our results show there is a clear link between vitamin D deficiency and oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle,” said study co-author Andrew Philp, who heads diabetes and metabolism research at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Darlinghurst, Australia.

“They suggest that vitamin D deficiency decreases mitochondrial function, as opposed to reducing the number of mitochondria in skeletal muscle.”

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Preventing vitamin D deficiency

The National Institutes of Health estimates that up to 60 percent of adults in the United States may be deficient in vitamin D.

Not only does this increase chances that many of us could suffer from age-related muscle loss and cognitive decline, it potentially puts us at greater risk for a plethora of chronic diseases.

During the pandemic, scientists have been urging us to increase our intake of Vitamin D to at least 2000 IU per day. Taking 4000 IU a day is even better and perfectly safe. To correct a deficiency, 5000 IU and higher has been used without adverse reactions.

So, how can you be sure you’re getting enough Vitamin D in your diet?

You’d be wise to include one or more of the following foods in your daily diet:

• Salmon
• Sardines
• Rainbow trout
• Canned tuna
• Beef liver
• Egg yolks
• Mushrooms
• Swiss cheese
• Milk, orange juice and cereals fortified with vitamin D

If you follow a vegan diet, you’ll probably want to take a D supplement, as there are few plant sources that are rich in this vitamin.

Sources:

Vitamin D deficiency may impair muscle function in older adults, study finds — United Press International (UPI)

Diet-induced vitamin D deficiency reduces skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration — Journal of Endocrinology

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