Age related loss of muscle mass: Counteracting through lifestyle strategies

It is well established that after the age of around 35-40 years there is a progressive decline in muscle strength and mass, which has several deleterious effects. These include an increased risk of falls, loss of independence, increased risk of disability and a decrease in quality of life. These effects contribute towards extremely high health and social care costs, which are estimated to be £2.5billion/year for muscle weakness.

The most effective way to increase muscle strength and mass is through resistance exercise, yet participation is low and it is hard to maintain people participation. For this reason people have looked to nutritional strategies. There is growing evidence that marine derived long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCn-3PUFA) can be beneficial. Supplementation with LCn-3PUFA has been shown to increase muscle protein synthesis responses to feeding and in the longer term lead to clinically relevant increases in muscle strength and mass. This webinar will explore strategies to counteract this age related loss of muscle strength and mass, including LCn-3PUFA supplementation.

What will I gain from this webinar?

• You will be able to describe the socioeconomic consequences of the age related loss of muscle strength and mass
• Be able to critically discuss the strength of the evidence for the beneficial effects of resistance exercise as we age
• You will have an understanding of the potential role of LCn-3PUFA supplementation as a nutritional countermeasure to prevent or delay the age related loss of muscle strength and mass.