Age research: muscles dwindle with each passing year

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MunichAs you get older, you lose a bit of muscle mass every year. In addition to hormones, lifestyle also plays a role.

Scientists led by Alexia Renoud from the University of Lyon observed the loss of muscle mass in 608 men between 60 and 85 years of age. Over a period of seven and a half years, they measured the muscle volume in the arms and legs every 18 months. They also recorded the amount of different hormones in the blood and asked the test subjects about their health status and lifestyle.

The right hormone level

Hormones seem to have a particular influence on the musculoskeletal system: a lot of testosterone is good, a lot of parathyroid hormone is bad for muscle mass. If the total concentration of the male hormone testosterone was below ten nanomoles, muscle loss accelerated by 0.1 percent per year compared to 0.07 percent in men with higher values. The opposite effect was found for the parathyroid hormone: the higher its concentration, the faster the muscles disappeared.

Movement keeps muscles alive

Basically, muscle mass loss picked up speed with increasing age: while under 65 year olds lost 0.7 percent of their muscles every year, it was almost twice as much for men over 75 years of age.

Those study participants who did not exercise regularly dismantled even faster. Anyone who was physically active for less than 15 hours a week, such as gardening or going for a walk, measurably accelerated muscle loss. And vice versa: On average across all age groups examined, athletic men lost only 0.58 percent of their muscle mass per year.

The scientists found another connection between age-related muscle loss and type 2 diabetes. The diabetes caused an accelerated muscle wasting. (away)

Source: Renoud A. et al .: Predictive parameters of accelerated muscle loss in men - MINOS study, The American Journal of Medicine, 2014

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