Muscle plays a number of roles in maintaining health. Not only are muscles critical to posture, balance, and movement, but they maintain healthy bones by putting a physical stress across the bones which encourages our bones to stay strong. Beyond its functional role in moving the human body, muscle is also very important for maintaining a healthy metabolism and triggering anti-inflammatory responses.

Muscle loss from aging, inactivity, and hormonal therapies, lead to many health problems including reduced bone density, reduced energy and weight gain. In our 20’s we are hormonally charged for muscle gain and find muscle easy to produce and maintain, however after 26yrs of age, we begin to plateau and around 55yrs of age men start to find maintaining muscle mass increasing difficult for a number of reasons.

In addition, the loss of muscle can undermine a potential mechanism to alleviate insulin resistance. The uptake of sugars into the muscle can occur via a process that is independent of insulin. Therefore, in men with metabolic syndrome, the loss of muscle mass precludes their ability to effectively balance blood sugar control and overcome insulin resistance through exercise.

Note also that even maintaining muscle mass can have a positive impact on metabolism. 1kg of muscle burns 130kj in the same time 1kg of fat would burn 27kj.This means that the number of calories burned per day is at least in part determined by the ratio of muscle to fat.

Basically, maintaining a healthy amount of muscle mass leads to greater energy levels, improved balance, reduced risk of injury and improved quality of life. Keeping what you’ve got or building some that you don’t have yet is very important, and something that I plan on working on my whole life.

So what can you do to improve your muscle mass or maintain what you’ve already got?

Protein

Increased protein intake at the upper end of the range recommended by Dietitians (10% to 35% of total calories) has been shown, in several clinical studies, to reduce hunger and improve lean body mass during weight loss.Exercising for durations of approximately one hour each day is an excellent strategy for weight maintenance, while progressive resistance training has been shown to build muscle, increase resting metabolism, improve glucose tolerance, increase strength, muscle function, and aerobic fitness, contribute to increased bone density, and improve quality of life.

Consume between 1g and 1.5g Protein per kg body weight daily for enough protein to generate new muscle.

Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise is a great way to stay fit. But without the right food, it may lead to more rapid muscle loss if your exercise time begins to increase beyond 60 minutes. Including some resistance exercise such as free weights, boxing, swimming, or push ups and sit ups, will help to continue developing new muscle. Completing the repititions at different speeds and with different repetitions will improve strength, or power, or muscle size. For more information on just what to do, make an appointment with an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

CoQ10

CoQ10 is an essential nutrient in cellular energy production and is present in all tissues of our body and affects the function of every cell of our body. CoQ10 also functions as a powerful antioxidant. Tissues with the highest energy or metabolic requirements (eg heart, liver, immune system, muscles) contain the highest concentration of Coq10.

CoQ10 can be lost from our bodies in genetically acquired defects in synthesis of CoQ10, certain medications and our bodies ability to synthesis CoQ10 declines progressively from the age of 20 and reaches critical loss of synthesis around 55yrs of age.

Researchers have demonstrated that oral consumption of CoQ10 at 300mg/day may improve fatigue, muscular fatigue, allow for muscular development and improve heart health. I would recommend between 100mg and 300mg per day for any person over 55yrs noticing loss in muscle mass.

Finally, ensuring that you perform both endurance and resistance exercise on a regular basis, eat healthy fresh food with sufficient levels of protein, fruit and vegetables and minimize your intake of highly refined carbohydrates will make all the difference in staying healthy and happy throughout later life.

Key Points to Remember

  1. Avoiding muscle loss and/or gaining muscle through increased protein intake and exercise can help in achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight
  2. Increase intake of fruits and vegetables and minimize caloric intake from refined carbohydrates
  3. Perform regular weight bearing exercises to continue laying down new muscle.

See a Dietitian or an Exercise Physiologist for more specific information on building or maintaining muscle mass.