• Home
  • About Jerry Brainum
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • FAQs: Frequently asked questions or problems

Applied Metabolics

Jerry Brainum | Nutrition, Health, and Exercise

Stay Hungry: Is Caloric Restriction the Way to Keep Your Muscle As You Age? by Jerry Brainum 5/21

May 1, 2021
By: Jerry Brainum
Filed Under: Caloric restriction, Sarcopenia

 

If you live long enough, the loss of some muscle mass is inevitable. However, exercise and judicious nutrition go a long way to minimize the loss of muscle with age. This loss of muscle with age is known as sarcopenia, and its effects are far from just aesthetic. Even if you were never a bodybuilder or athlete, the loss of muscle is of great concern because recent studies have associated the age-related loss of muscle with increased mortality. The human body works on a "use it or lose it" basis, and what is not used gradually dissipates. This could range from neurons in the brain to muscles. Muscles are often compared to engines, which is an apt comparison since we need muscles to move. If you have a car and never run it, after a while the car won't run at all for various reasons, such as a dead battery that prevents you from starting the car. Muscle is made to move, or more precisely, to be exercised, and without regular exercise, the muscles atrophy. When that happens, a number of diseases linked to physical inactivity emerge. These include cardiovascular disease, brain degeneration,  type-2 diabetes, and even cancer. So the first rule for maintaining muscle as you age is to continue to exercise.

If nothing is done to prevent it, the body loses about 1.5% muscle each year after the age of 50, which increases to 3% by age 60. Studies show that 50% of those 80 or older have serious cases of sarcopenia, or age-related loss of muscle. Even a 10% loss of muscle mass leads to a decrease in immune function, and that explains why losing muscle sets you up for increased mortality. With a 20% loss of muscle mass, you lose strength and cannot participate in activities of daily living. There is also an increased risk of falling, resulting in broken hips. Many older people die within 3 months of breaking their hips. If the muscle loss goes up to 30%, the ability to independently take care of yourself decreases, and there are increased risks of lower wound healing. With 40% muscle loss, there is a significantly increased risk of death from pneumonia and respiratory disease. Consider that in most cases of death in older people that is attributed to "old age," the actual cause of death is often pneumonia, which relates to a failure of the immune response in the elderly.  Since muscle is a primary site of glucose uptake and metabolism, using 80% of the glucose content in the body, losing muscle can set you up for type-2 diabetes. Muscle accounts for 30% of the resting metabolic rate, so losing muscle is a risk for obesity, which is associated with the release of inflammatory cytokines that further promote muscle loss.

 

In most cases, certain training concessions must be made because of the aging process. Older muscles . . .

Join today and get access to this article and all past and present Newsletters, since September 2014.  Each month you’ll get a new issue sent to your inbox.  Subscribe today for only $10/month!

Click here to subscribe now & read this article.

Tagged With: Aging muscle, caloric restriction and muscle mass, maintaining muscle with age

Only $10/month - Subscribe Today!

Subscriber Login

  • Lost Password

Boost Your Size, Strength and Leanness With…
Supplements That Work
Top Researcher Cuts Through the B.S.
and Shows You Which Ones Really
Pack On Muscle and Melt Off Fat

NaturalAnabolicsCVRshad.jpg

Read More / Purchase

Search

Newsletter Archives

Categories

  • 5-alpha reductase inhibition (1)
  • acid-base nutrition (1)
  • Aerobic exercise (4)
  • Aerobics and fat loss (7)
  • Alpha GPC (1)
  • amino acids (5)
  • Anabolic drugs (5)
  • Anabolic resistance (4)
  • Anabolic steroids (18)
  • Anti-aging (16)
  • Antioxidants (3)
  • Ashwagandha (1)
  • Athletes and steroids (6)
  • August 1 (3)
  • binge eating effects (1)
  • Black market drugs (1)
  • bodybuilding Coaching (1)
  • Bodybuilding Nutrition (15)
  • Bodybuilding posing (1)
  • Bodyweight strength training (1)
  • Book review (2)
  • Brain function (2)
  • Branched-chain amino acids (3)
  • Caloric restriction (1)
  • Carbohydrate loading (2)
  • Carbohydrates and exercise (5)
  • cardiovascular disease (4)
  • Cell hydration (1)
  • cellulite (1)
  • Chronobiology (1)
  • Citrulline (2)
  • Coconuts and health (1)
  • Coffee (1)
  • Cold weather exercise (1)
  • Concurrent training (2)
  • Contest prep (23)
  • Cortisol (1)
  • Covid-19 (4)
  • Creatine (7)
  • Cross-fit training (1)
  • Curcumin (1)
  • D-aspartic acid (2)
  • Dental health (2)
  • Depression (1)
  • Designer steroids (2)
  • Detox diets (1)
  • Detoxification diets (1)
  • DHEA (1)
  • DHT and health (1)
  • Diet fads (2)
  • Dieting and Metabolism (2)
  • diuretics (1)
  • Drugs in supplements (2)
  • ecdysteroids (1)
  • Effects of inactivity (1)
  • Eggs (4)
  • Erectile dysfunction (1)
  • Ergogenic aids (13)
  • Essential Fatty Acids (2)
  • Estrogen and men (1)
  • Estrogen in supplements (2)
  • Exercise concentration and focus (1)
  • Exercise frequency (3)
  • Exercise recovery (15)
  • Exercise techniques (12)
  • Fast food nutrition (1)
  • Fat loss (45)
  • Fat-burner supplements (5)
  • female Bodybuilders (1)
  • Fish oil (2)
  • GLP-1 agonist drugs (1)
  • GLP-1 agonist natural alternatives (1)
  • glycogen (1)
  • Growth hormone (8)
  • Gym air pollution (1)
  • Hair Loss (1)
  • Hard Gainer (1)
  • Health effects of extended sitting (1)
  • Herbal testosterone supplements (4)
  • High intensity training (14)
  • High protein diet and health (5)
  • Hormesis (1)
  • hormones (17)
  • IGF-1 (4)
  • Inflammation (1)
  • Insulin (2)
  • Intermittent fasting (7)
  • Intestinal microbiome (2)
  • Joint supplements (2)
  • Ketogenic diet (3)
  • Kidney health (1)
  • Late night eating (1)
  • longevity (12)
  • longevity research (7)
  • Low carb (13)
  • Male sexual function (1)
  • Marijuana (1)
  • Massage (1)
  • Meat Science (1)
  • Mental health (2)
  • metabolic stress (2)
  • Milk (3)
  • Mitochondria (2)
  • Mumie (1)
  • Muscle Cramps (1)
  • Muscle hypertrophy (29)
  • Muscle injuries (2)
  • Muscle pump (1)
  • Muscle soreness (1)
  • Muscles and Aging (1)
  • Muscular strength (7)
  • music and exercise (1)
  • Myostatin (1)
  • Natural anabolics (7)
  • Natural bodybuilding (16)
  • Natural sun protection (1)
  • Natural Testosterone boosters (1)
  • Newsletter (102)
  • Nicotine (1)
  • Nitric oxide (2)
  • nootropics (1)
  • Nutrient timing (8)
  • nutrients and aging (2)
  • Nutrition (45)
  • Nutrition conference (1)
  • Omega-3 fatty acids (1)
  • Optimal training techniques (10)
  • Osteoarthritis (1)
  • Paleolithic diet (1)
  • Physique contest preparation (15)
  • Placebo effect (1)
  • Prohormones (1)
  • Prostate health (1)
  • Protein and carbs (4)
  • Protein and longevity (1)
  • Protein needs for bodybuilding (10)
  • Protein nutrition (5)
  • Protein oxidation (1)
  • Protein supplements (17)
  • Resistance training and aging skin (1)
  • Resistent starch (2)
  • Sarcopenia (2)
  • Sauna baths (1)
  • Science meeting studies (3)
  • Selective androgen receptor modulator drugs (5)
  • Shoulder pain (1)
  • side effects of estrogen in men (1)
  • Skin Health (2)
  • sleep (4)
  • Sodium (1)
  • soy health effects (1)
  • Sports Medicine (2)
  • Squat exercise (1)
  • Stimulant supplements (2)
  • Stress (1)
  • Stretching (2)
  • Sun tan pills (1)
  • Supplements (39)
  • Tendon injuries (1)
  • Testosterone and food (3)
  • Testosterone and heart health (6)
  • Testosterone boosters (1)
  • Testosterone metabolism (9)
  • Testosterone replacement therapy (4)
  • The best time to exercise (1)
  • Thyroid function (1)
  • Time course for muscle gains (1)
  • TMAO (2)
  • Training principles (28)
  • Training techniques (22)
  • Training to failure (4)
  • ursolic acid (2)
  • vegan nutrition (2)
  • Vegetarian nutrition (5)
  • Viruses and fat gains (1)
  • Vitamin D (2)
  • Women and Nutrition (2)
  • Women's health (9)
Copyright © 2025 appliedmetabolics.com
Affiliate Sign Up & Login | Sitemap
Website by Nine Planets