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Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age

Sarcopenia is of important clinical relevance for loss of independence in older adults. The prevalence of obesity in combination with sarcopenia (“sarcopenic-obesity”) is increasing at a rapid rate. However, whilst the development of sarcopenia is understood to be multi-factorial and harmful to heal...

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Autores principales: Morgan, Paul T., Smeuninx, Benoit, Breen, Leigh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7736105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33335909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.569904
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author Morgan, Paul T.
Smeuninx, Benoit
Breen, Leigh
author_facet Morgan, Paul T.
Smeuninx, Benoit
Breen, Leigh
author_sort Morgan, Paul T.
collection PubMed
description Sarcopenia is of important clinical relevance for loss of independence in older adults. The prevalence of obesity in combination with sarcopenia (“sarcopenic-obesity”) is increasing at a rapid rate. However, whilst the development of sarcopenia is understood to be multi-factorial and harmful to health, the role of obesity from a protective and damaging perspective on skeletal muscle in aging, is poorly understood. Specifically, the presence of obesity in older age may be accompanied by a greater volume of skeletal muscle mass in weight-bearing muscles compared with lean older individuals, despite impaired physical function and resistance to anabolic stimuli. Collectively, these findings support a potential paradox in which obesity may protect skeletal muscle mass in older age. One explanation for these paradoxical findings may be that the anabolic response to weight-bearing activity could be greater in obese vs. lean older individuals due to a larger mechanical stimulus, compensating for the heightened muscle anabolic resistance. However, it is likely that there is a complex interplay between muscle, adipose, and external influences in the aging process that are ultimately harmful to health in the long-term. This narrative briefly explores some of the potential mechanisms regulating changes in skeletal muscle mass and function in aging combined with obesity and the interplay with sarcopenia, with a particular focus on muscle morphology and the regulation of muscle proteostasis. In addition, whilst highly complex, we attempt to provide an updated summary for the role of obesity from a protective and damaging perspective on muscle mass and function in older age. We conclude with a brief discussion on treatment of sarcopenia and obesity and a summary of future directions for this research field.
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spelling pubmed-77361052020-12-16 Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age Morgan, Paul T. Smeuninx, Benoit Breen, Leigh Front Nutr Nutrition Sarcopenia is of important clinical relevance for loss of independence in older adults. The prevalence of obesity in combination with sarcopenia (“sarcopenic-obesity”) is increasing at a rapid rate. However, whilst the development of sarcopenia is understood to be multi-factorial and harmful to health, the role of obesity from a protective and damaging perspective on skeletal muscle in aging, is poorly understood. Specifically, the presence of obesity in older age may be accompanied by a greater volume of skeletal muscle mass in weight-bearing muscles compared with lean older individuals, despite impaired physical function and resistance to anabolic stimuli. Collectively, these findings support a potential paradox in which obesity may protect skeletal muscle mass in older age. One explanation for these paradoxical findings may be that the anabolic response to weight-bearing activity could be greater in obese vs. lean older individuals due to a larger mechanical stimulus, compensating for the heightened muscle anabolic resistance. However, it is likely that there is a complex interplay between muscle, adipose, and external influences in the aging process that are ultimately harmful to health in the long-term. This narrative briefly explores some of the potential mechanisms regulating changes in skeletal muscle mass and function in aging combined with obesity and the interplay with sarcopenia, with a particular focus on muscle morphology and the regulation of muscle proteostasis. In addition, whilst highly complex, we attempt to provide an updated summary for the role of obesity from a protective and damaging perspective on muscle mass and function in older age. We conclude with a brief discussion on treatment of sarcopenia and obesity and a summary of future directions for this research field. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7736105/ /pubmed/33335909 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.569904 Text en Copyright © 2020 Morgan, Smeuninx and Breen. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Nutrition
Morgan, Paul T.
Smeuninx, Benoit
Breen, Leigh
Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title_full Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title_fullStr Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title_short Exploring the Impact of Obesity on Skeletal Muscle Function in Older Age
title_sort exploring the impact of obesity on skeletal muscle function in older age
topic Nutrition
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7736105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33335909
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.569904
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