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Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?

Maintaining independence, quality of life, and health is crucial for elderly adults. One of the major threats to living independently is the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function that progressively occurs with aging, known as sarcopenia. Several studies have identified protein (especially the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Baum, Jamie I., Kim, Il-Young, Wolfe, Robert R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27338461
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu8060359
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author Baum, Jamie I.
Kim, Il-Young
Wolfe, Robert R.
author_facet Baum, Jamie I.
Kim, Il-Young
Wolfe, Robert R.
author_sort Baum, Jamie I.
collection PubMed
description Maintaining independence, quality of life, and health is crucial for elderly adults. One of the major threats to living independently is the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function that progressively occurs with aging, known as sarcopenia. Several studies have identified protein (especially the essential amino acids) as a key nutrient for muscle health in elderly adults. Elderly adults are less responsive to the anabolic stimulus of low doses of amino acid intake compared to younger individuals. However, this lack of responsiveness in elderly adults can be overcome with higher levels of protein (or essential amino acid) consumption. The requirement for a larger dose of protein to generate responses in elderly adults similar to the responses in younger adults provides the support for a beneficial effect of increased protein in older populations. The purpose of this review is to present the current evidence related to dietary protein intake and muscle health in elderly adults.
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spelling pubmed-49242002016-07-05 Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake? Baum, Jamie I. Kim, Il-Young Wolfe, Robert R. Nutrients Review Maintaining independence, quality of life, and health is crucial for elderly adults. One of the major threats to living independently is the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function that progressively occurs with aging, known as sarcopenia. Several studies have identified protein (especially the essential amino acids) as a key nutrient for muscle health in elderly adults. Elderly adults are less responsive to the anabolic stimulus of low doses of amino acid intake compared to younger individuals. However, this lack of responsiveness in elderly adults can be overcome with higher levels of protein (or essential amino acid) consumption. The requirement for a larger dose of protein to generate responses in elderly adults similar to the responses in younger adults provides the support for a beneficial effect of increased protein in older populations. The purpose of this review is to present the current evidence related to dietary protein intake and muscle health in elderly adults. MDPI 2016-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4924200/ /pubmed/27338461 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu8060359 Text en © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Baum, Jamie I.
Kim, Il-Young
Wolfe, Robert R.
Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title_full Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title_fullStr Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title_full_unstemmed Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title_short Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake?
title_sort protein consumption and the elderly: what is the optimal level of intake?
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924200/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27338461
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu8060359
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