The Concern
Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates 7% -12% of Americans age 65 to 74 are considered “frail” and increases to 25% for those older than age 84. Frailty increases both the incidences of disease and injuries which result in complications leading to longer hospital stays. The biggest transgression is that frailty robs you of independence and quality of life and can lead to forced assisted living.
Frailty is a clinical syndrome meeting 3 of 5 phenotypic criteria:
- weakness
- slowness
- low level of physical activity
- self-reported exhaustion
- unintentional weight gain.
How Frailty Happen?
Frailty is preceded by a natural muscle deterioration phenomenon called “sarcopenia”, a condition where, beginning in your forties, you will lose about 1% of your muscle mass per year and anywhere from 1% to 3% of your strength per year. Tick, tick, tick…accumulating with each passing year. All people are subject to sarcopenia, but not all need to become frail.
Counteracting Sarcopenia
You can counteract the loss of muscle by adding more muscle. The muscle added hopefully equates to the natural loss, but even if it’s not quite equal at least you’ll stave off frailty. You can add muscle even in your seventies. People in their eighties can’t necessarily add a lot more muscle mass but they can definitely add muscle strength to enhance the quality of their movement and balance.
Exercise and Nutrition to Reduce Odds of Frailty?
You need to add strength training to your exercise mix. Resistance training of the major muscle groups via weights, machines, bands, or even just body weight twice a week will mitigate sarcopenia.
You also need to add protein to your nutrition program. According to Stuart Phillips, Ph D., of McMaster University, the optimal protein intake is 1.2 grams per Kilogram. So, for a person weighing 150 lbs. that would equal 82 grams of protein required per day. If possible, ingest more of the essential fatty acid Leucine which kick starts your muscle building biology. Leucine is found in salmon, beef, eggs, chickpeas, and soybeans.
An Added Bonus from Certain Foods
A recent 3.5-year study out of Spain of people over 65 years of age found that there was a correlation between specific lack of vitamin intake and becoming frail. Lacking vitamin B6 led to a 2.8 times probability of becoming frail! To a lesser degree ingesting vitamins E and C also mitigate becoming frail.
Vitamin B6 is found in beef liver, chicken, chickpeas, salmon and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin E is best found in: almonds and sunflower seeds.
Vitamin C is found in: blueberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Kale, lemons, red pepper and Swiss Chard.
Conclusion
Left unchecked natural aging leads to sarcopenia will then can lead to later life frailty. It can be forestalled with strength training, quality protein and key vitamins. A regular program of such will foster a zestful life in later years. Studies have shown maintaining a higher level of muscle mass will lead to a 30% decrease in mortality risk. Are you motivated yet?