Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, can cause falls due to weakened muscles in the leg. Fruits and vegetables contain fiber, vitamins and essential minerals that are crucial for good health. A study published by scientists funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) suggests that plant foods also may help preserve muscle mass in the elderly.
The typical American diet has high levels of protein, cereal grains and other foods that produce acid. In general, such diets generate tiny amounts of acid each day. With aging, mild metabolic acidosis develops but slowly increasing, according to researchers.
It appears that acidosis causes muscle wasting. Therefore, the researchers studied the connections between the amount of lean body mass and diets of fruits and vegetables rich in potassium and alkaline wastes. Such diets could help neutralize acidosis. Food can be considered alkaline or acid based waste produced by them in the body, rather than whether they are alkaline or acidic themselves. For example, the body metabolizes the grapefruits acidic to alkaline residues.
The researchers conducted an analysis of a cross section at about 400 male and female volunteers aged 65 or older who had completed a three-year experiment on measures to prevent osteoporosis. In that experiment, the volunteers’ physical activity, height and weight, and percentage of lean body mass were measured at baseline and after three years. Also, urinary potassium level was measured at baseline, and dietary data were collected after 18 months.
Based on regression models, it is likely that volunteers with high-potassium diets have 3.6 more pounds of lean muscle mass than volunteers with only half the highest consumption of potassium. This increase almost compensates for the 4.4 pounds of lean tissue typically lost during a decade in healthy people 65 years of age or older, according to the authors. The study was published in the journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, can cause falls due to weakened muscles in the leg. The authors encourage further studies to study effects on muscle mass and muscle function of increasing total consumption of foods that produce alkaline residues.
Tags: muscle mass, plant foods, sarcopenia
