Muscle Loss With Aging (Sarcopenia) Treatment, Recommendations, and Market Size

 Sarcopenia, or the gradual loss of muscular tissue, begins to set in when a person becomes thirty. Sarcopenia is the normal and progressive loss of muscle fibre brought on by ageing; the word comes from the Latin words "sarco" for muscle and "penia" for wasting. Sarcopenia affects everyone over the age of thirty to some extent.

Because the usage of the body's muscles generates the mechanical stress required to exert strain on the skeletal structure and maintain bone mass, sarcopenia and osteoporosis are connected and frequently develop concurrently. Inactivity can send older persons on a downward health cycle that is aggravated by surgery, traumatic accidents, or even illnesses that require lengthy rest, as it causes loss of both muscle and bone mass.

Moreover, fat storage contributes to osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Muscle that is marbling with fat will not be as strong as lean muscle. Increases in intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT), the abdominal "spare tyre" that raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and early death, are adversely correlated with muscle performance. Muscles that store an excessive amount of fat may be experiencing systemic inflammation. Sarcopenia and chronic systemic inflammation, which is now widely acknowledged as the underlying factor in all degenerative diseases, are being studied by researchers at the Skeletal Muscle Exercise Research Facility at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center.

Loss of muscle mass, loss of muscle function, and potential fat infiltration into the muscle tissue are all effects of ageing. Nevertheless, the University of Utah researchers now have proof that what we previously thought to be related to ageing may actually be caused by inactivity. If true, it prompts intriguing queries like "Can increased activity stop or reverse muscle mass loss?" and "Can increased activity reverse muscle mass loss?" Without a doubt, intermuscular fat decreases strength since it physically obstructs blood vessel and neuron function in the muscle tissue. Yet scientists are still investigating whether there is a link between sarcopenia and IMAT.

Middle-aged adults will gain the most from a workout that prioritises strength training and weight-bearing exercises to combat the effects of sarcopenia. Adults need workout regimens that build endurance rather than those that need short bursts of energy to combat the overall consequences of energy loss associated with ageing. Combining these factors would result in a workout regimen that includes, for example, walking for large distances (one mile or more) or utilising a treadmill, as well as some days designated for weightlifting. Walking can be used to keep one's fitness level up, but it won't help one restore muscle mass after a long period of inactivity or illness-related inactivity. In order to build strength, you must also engage in weight-bearing exercises in addition to walking. In a setting that promotes wellbeing, strength reserves must be developed.

Most people begin to feel the effects of ageing about the age of forty-five: their energy levels decline, it is harder to do physically demanding tasks, and it takes longer to recover from illnesses. The elderly population as a whole has a propensity to ignore their bodies. Instilling a fitness ethic in older persons who have not made daily exercise a lifelong habit is challenging. The finest workout routines will mix cardio-respiratory, endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility activities. The requirement for exercise increases as a person gets older.

The main muscles in the arms, legs, and trunk should be the focus of the resistance workouts. Introductory workouts should begin with a reasonably low degree of effort and gradually increase in weight and difficulty as time goes on. Body weight, stretch cords, and dumbbells can usually be used instead of huge, expensive machines for persons without subscriptions to fitness centres. A great approach to develop or maintain pectoral, bicep, tricep, and shoulder muscles as well as tighten the abdominal core is to perform push-ups on (carpeted) stairs at home.

But, despite these home comforts, Americans do not exercise enough and instead lead sedentary lifestyles, which are frequently the start of a vicious cycle. If people, especially seniors, don't stay active, their joints, which are already losing density and getting more brittle with age, may stiffen up and become more difficult to move around in. Moreover, extended rest reduces aerobic capacity, making people more susceptible to tiredness. Around the mid-sixties, muscular mass and energy levels typically begin to rapidly decline.

When people get older, their bodies' natural production of muscle protein starts to decrease. Genetics, intensity of physical activity, and age at which muscle protein production begins to drop will all affect how quickly it happens. We are aware that as people age, their muscle fibre count decreases, which results in a reduction in muscle strength. Consequently, the conditions are favourable for sarcopenia and easier muscle ageing.

The most effective treatment for sarcopenia is weight-bearing exercise, but a recent study in the journal Clinical Nutrition suggests that the amino acid leucine may enhance muscle protein synthesis and prevent the development of sarcopenia. Each 25 g scoop of whey protein isolate powder has 2200 mg of leucine, and I personally eat 4 or 5 glasses of whey protein isolate shakes (mixed with water, not milk). Leucine is a crucial amino acid that the body needs every day, and drinking whey protein isolate is a good method to get it.

According to a 2004 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the projected direct healthcare costs associated with sarcopenia in the US in 2000 were $18.5 billion ($10.8 billion for men and $7.7 billion for women). Each sarcopenic man incurred excess healthcare costs of $860, and each sarcopenic woman incurred excess costs of $933. According to the study, a 10% decrease in the prevalence of sarcopenia would result in annual healthcare cost savings of $1.1 billion (dollars adjusted to 2000 rates). Hence, older persons should act now to combat sarcopenia for both health and economical reasons.

For sarcopenic pharmacological therapy, however, the market size was only anticipated to be $10 million by companiesandmarkets.com. Since medication therapy is not advised as the first line of treatment for sarcopenia, the potential drug market is undervalued. No medication has yet been authorised to treat sarcopenia. The only medications available in the current competitive environment are generic and off-label ones like growth hormones, oestrogen, and hormone replacement therapy. There are no effective sarcopenia treatment options in the final phases of development at any pharmaceutical company. As a result, we wouldn't anticipate any new sarcopenia medications to be available until until 2018. Instead, due to competition from generic hormones that can be purchased for as little as $20 per month's supply, the market value for this therapeutic area will continue to be low. Read More about Sarms Canada

Nonetheless, despite that poor market evaluation, the pharmaceutical sector is gradually creating treatments for sarcopenia. The development of selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs), a novel class of medications with the potential to prevent and treat muscle wasting in cancer patients as well as other musculoskeletal wasting or muscle loss conditions, such as chronic sarcopenia, is the main focus of GlaxoSmithKline, GTx, Inc., and Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc. (age related muscle loss). In fact, a partnership agreement between GSK and Five Prime Therapeutics exists. Similar to this, Radius Health, Inc.'s SARM candidate medication was granted a patent. But, the partnership between Betagenon AB and Baltic Bio AB to develop the medicine "0304," which activates AMPK, metabolises fat as heat energy as opposed to storing it, and has been demonstrated to correct sarcopenia in lab rat studies, is what interests me the most.