Older adults from midlife on lose one percent of their muscle mass each year. In order to maintain a high quality of life till the very end, every senior citizen should regularly engage in body building exercises. Older women due to genetic reasons have to work harder at building up their muscle mass according to a recent study, reports John H. Gohde.
Older women respond less favorably to body building exercise than do older men according to a recent research study of 29 women and men, aged 65 to 80. Due to declining estrogen levels women were less able to metabolize protein in their diets that is needed for building muscle mass.
The researchers suggested that older men and women need to eat a higher percentage of protein in their diets. Along with eating more protein older women especially need to weight train, if they want to reduce their risk of falling as they age.
While the average person interested in health would have been hard pressed to locate the original research paper, it was absolutely no problem for John H. Gohde to find.
Ronkainen PH, Pöllänen E, Törmäkangas T, Tiainen K, Koskenvuo M
Catechol-o-methyltransferase gene polymorphism is associated with skeletal muscle properties in older women alone and together with physical activity.
PLoS ONE. 2008 Mar 19;3(3):e1819.
PMID: 18350156 [Full Text Online]
“These data suggest that individuals with presumed low levels of circulating estradiol and thereby its minor effect on skeletal muscle can be prone to low muscle mass, strength and power, which may, however, be compensated for by physically active life-style.”