Health Times reporter Yang Xiaoming "Health Times"
If you have difficulty holding things, your gait becomes sluggish, and it is difficult to stand up, this may be because you have too few muscles and are suffering from "sarcopenia"!
At the 2014 U.S. Whey Protein and Healthy Aging press conference recently held by the U.S. Dairy Export Association, domestic and foreign sports nutrition experts reminded that after the age of 50, the elderly lose muscle very quickly, and "sarcopenia" will follow. , middle-aged and elderly people should pay attention to muscle training.
Lost
60 lost 30%
Lost half of 80
Speaking of "sarcopenia", many people feel unfamiliar. It is actually the abbreviation of sarcopenia. It is a syndrome mainly caused by the loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and function. It has a larger proportion in middle-aged and elderly people.
Chang Cuiqing, associate researcher at the Institute of Sports Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital, pointed out that starting from middle age, our muscles will gradually lose, with muscle loss of 0.5% to 1% per year. Muscle loss accelerates after the age of 50, especially for women, and is expected to reach 60. At the age of 80, muscle loss will reach 30%, and over 80 years old, almost half of the muscle loss will be lost.
From the perspective of weight, many people start to gain weight after middle age. However, Chang Cuiqing said that human weight includes fat, bones, muscles, etc. When you gain weight in middle age, the weight gained is often fat, not muscle. Many people have lost muscle but gained fat, which cannot be seen from their weight. Elderly people with sarcopenia will have weakened muscle strength, impaired mobility, and increased risk of falls, such as difficulty standing, slow walking, and easy fractures due to falls.
Change
"Old and thin"
Conceptions need to be corrected
The main reasons for muscle loss are: on the one hand, as age increases, the synthesis and decomposition of muscle protein is imbalanced, hormone endocrine changes, and the gradual aging of human muscles; on the other hand, the elderly have poor dietary nutrition and lack of physical exercise. , also aggravates muscle loss.
Many elderly people are influenced by traditional concepts and one-sidedly pursue "aging in life"."Thin", deliberately eating a vegetarian diet and reducing food intake and energy intake, resulting in insufficient intake of high-quality protein and exacerbating malnutrition. This is one of the main causes of "sarcopenia" because protein is the "basic material" for muscle growth. .
In fact, the protein decomposition and loss in the body of the elderly is greater than the synthesis, so the protein requirement is slightly higher than that of young adults to maintain balance, and more attention must be paid to the supplement of high-quality protein.
Eat
Three meals of protein
Apply evenly
When it comes to protein intake, Douglas Paddon Jones, a professor in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism at Texas State University School of Medicine in the United States, observed that many people, whether Chinese or Americans, are getting the wrong protein!
The reason is that many people tend to concentrate the amount of protein in one meal for the day, such as eating several eggs and drinking milk in the morning, but not paying attention to lunch and dinner; or eating a lot of meat in the evening and lunch, consuming too much protein, and not eating breakfast. Doing things hastily will result in unbalanced protein intake at each meal.
Dr. Jones said that if you eat too little protein in a meal, you will not be able to maximize your muscle growth potential; and if you eat too much protein in a meal, the excess protein will be broken down into glucose because the body's ability to store excess protein is extremely limited. and fat, thereby increasing weight. Therefore, the way to supplement protein is to consume it evenly with each meal.
Chang Cuiqing’s suggestion is that each person should consume high-quality protein every day, no less than 1 gram/kg of body weight. Specifically allocated to each meal, it is best to consume about 25 to 30 grams of high-quality protein per meal. This is the best way to reduce the risk of sarcopenia. Animal foods such as meat, fish and shellfish, and eggs are good sources of high-quality protein. In addition, beans and soy products are also good sources of high-quality protein.
For example, if you eat 2 taels of staple food + an egg + a cup of milk in the morning, and eat 2 taels of pure lean meat at noon and evening, you can ensure protein for each meal. If you don’t eat a lot, or you are worried about taking in too much cholesterol from eggs, you can buy some whey protein powder if you can. Generally, a small spoonful can satisfy a meal.
Move
Endurance, resilience,
Strength training is essential
If you only take in protein and do not exercise, it will have limited effect on maintaining muscles.. Dr. Jones once conducted a study in which volunteers obtained the recommended daily intake of protein, but healthy elderly people still lost 10% of lean body mass in their legs if they were inactive for 10 days. So exercise is also essential to maintain muscles.
How should the elderly exercise? Chang Cuiqing specially summarized a set of exercise plans for this purpose. First, maintain 30 to 60 minutes of moderate-intensity endurance exercise every day. For example, for the elderly, walking is the best endurance exercise. If you can't walk for 30 minutes at a stretch, you can walk several times a day, but each walk should take at least 10 minutes. Then, do at least two minutes of flexibility training every day. Any static stretching activity for large muscle groups can be done, such as standing and rotating the body, elbow flexion and extension.
In addition, strength training should be done two days a week. This is often ignored by many old people, who think that strength training is a matter for young people. In fact, for the elderly, strength training is equally important to maintaining muscles. You can do some incremental resistance training, such as wall push-ups, which means holding on to the wall and doing push-ups in groups of 8 to 12. After a short rest, continue doing 2 to 4 groups every day. People with good joints can also climb stairs. When climbing stairs, you can hold your buttocks with your hands, which can help muscle contraction. You can also do some balance training anytime and anywhere according to your physical condition, such as stretching your arms and standing on one leg while holding on to a chair, which are all good methods.
"Even minimal changes every day can slow down the aging process." Chang Cuiqing said that we cannot change the aging process, but through nutritious diet and effective exercise, we can delay and prevent muscle loss.