Staying Strong: Tips To Prevent Muscle Loss With Age
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Dr. Andrea Furlan, specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation with 30 years of experience, has advice:
Fighting sarcopenia
Sarcopenia is so common as to be considered “natural”, but “natural” does not mean “obligatory” and it certainly doesn’t mean “healthy”. As for how to fight it?
You may be thinking “let us guess, is it eat protein and do resistance exercises? And yes it is, but that’s only part of it…
Firstly, she recommends remembering why you are doing this, or because understanding is key to compliance (i.e. your perfect diet and exercise program will mean nothing if you don’t actually do it, and you won’t do it enough to make it a habit, let alone keep it up, if the reasons aren’t clear in your mind).
Sarcopenia comes with an increased risk of falls, reduced physical capacity in general, resultant disability, social isolation, and depression. Of course, this is not a one-to-one equation; you will not necessarily become depressed the moment your muscle mass is below a certain percentage, but statistically speaking, the road to ruin is laid out clearly.
Secondly, she recommends being on the lookout for it. If you check your body composition regularly with a gadget, that’s great and laudable; if you don’t, then a) consider getting one (here’s an example product on Amazon), and b) watch out for decreased muscle strength, fatigue, reduced stamina, noticeable body shape changes with muscle loss and (likely) fat gain.
Thirdly, she recommends more than just regular resistance training and good protein intake. Yes, she recommends those things too, but also getting enough water (can’t rebuild the body without it), avoiding a sedentary lifestyle (sitting leads to atrophy of many supporting and stabilizing muscles, you know, the kind of muscles that don’t look flashy but stop you falling down), and getting good sleep—vital for all kinds of body maintenance, and muscle maintenance is no exception (there’s a reason bodybuilders sleep 9–12 hours daily when in a gaining phase; you don’t need to do that, but don’t skimp on your 7–9 hours, yes, really, even you, yes, at any age).
Lastly, she recommends continuing to learn about the topic, as otherwise it’s easy to go off-track.
For more information on all of the above and more, enjoy:
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Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
- Protein: How Much Do We Need, Really?
- Resistance Is Useful! (Especially As We Get Older)
- Resistance Beyond Weights
- HIIT, But Make It HIRT ← this is about high-intensity resistance training (HIRT); confusing the muscles like one confuses the heart in HIIT, which thus yields improved results
- Sleep: Yes, You Really Do Still Need It
Take care!
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11 Mistakes When Measuring Blood Pressure
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Knowing your blood pressure is important, but measuring it is so easy to get wrong, that even professionals often make these mistakes, which can result in a falsely high or falsely low reading:
You’ll want to learn these by heart
Dr. Siobhan Deshauer advises us to avoid these mistakes:
- Skipping rest before measurement: not sitting quietly for at least 5 minutes can raise systolic blood pressure by up to 11 points.
- Talking during measurement: speaking, even casually, can trigger nervous system activity and add up to 7 points to systolic readings.
- Using the wrong arm: readings can differ between arms; always use the arm with the higher pressure. A 10+ point difference may be a sign of vascular disease, to be wary of that.
- No back support: sitting without firm back support can raise systolic pressure by about 10 points.
- Improper arm positioning: if your arm isn’t supported at heart level, it can falsely raise or lower readings by up to 6 points (higher than heart = falsely low reading; lower than heart = falsely high reading).
- Crossed legs: crossing your legs during measurement can elevate systolic blood pressure by as much as 15 points.
- Caffeine before testing: recent intake can increase systolic readings by up to 10 points; avoid it for 30 minutes prior.
- Full bladder: this too can activate the sympathetic nervous system and raise systolic pressure by up to 15 points.
- Wrong cuff size: a cuff that’s too small can raise systolic pressure by 11 points; one that’s too large can give commensurately falsely low readings.
- Using wrist monitors: these are even more error-prone than upper arm cuffs and should only be used when no other option exists; choose validated devices only.
- Relying solely on clinic readings: white coat hypertension (up to 30-point spike) and masked hypertension (normal in clinic, high elsewhere) affect 20–30% of people—home monitoring is therefore essential for accuracy.
Example:
- at home, sitting tranquilly with my arm supported on cushions, the cuff placed correctly, and taking 3 readings to take an average of them, this writer’s blood pressure averages around 103/70,
- at a clinic where I got my blood pressure taken shortly after bouncing up 6 flights of stairs, without correct support of my arm let alone my back, and a nurse hurriedly taking it while asking me questions, 130/84
Quite a difference!
For more about these mistakes, enjoy:
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Want to learn more?
You might also like:
What Most People Don’t Know About Blood Pressure
Take care!
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The Forgotten Vitamin That Can Help vs Cancer
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When it comes to eating vs cancer, usually the talk is about macros, for example: Eat To Beat Cancer
Indeed, whole books have been written on that, such as The Cancer Code − by Dr. William Fung
However, today we’re going to talk about an important (and vastly underrated) micronutrient:
Why niacin is extra nice
Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is (like all vitamins) essential to health (part of the definition of “vitamin” is that we would literally die without it).
But most people have only a vague idea of what most vitamins do, with a common level of knowledge probably being something like:
- Vitamin A: good for the eyes
- Vitamin B1: is this for energy?
- Vitamin B2: who knows
- Vitamin B3: it is a mystery
- Vitamin B4: is this a real vitamin?
- Vitamin B5: energy?
- Vitamin B6: energy?
- Vitamin B7: good for skin, hair, & nails
- Vitamin B8: this isn’t a real vitamin
- Vitamin B9: something to do with pregnancy
- Vitamin B10: why so many B-vitamins?
- Vitamin B11: come on, this is too many
- Vitamin B12: energy!
- Vitamin C: skin!
- Vitamin D: bones!
- Vitamin E: skin!
- … (unlikely people think about the possibilities for vitamins F-J)
- Vitamin K: babies need this one, right?
And to quickly address those without getting too side-tracked: no, there are no vitamins B4, B8, B10, or B11, and all of the rest of them while the guesses were right, they had other important uses too.
You can learn a lot more here: Which B Vitamins? It Makes A Difference
In that article, we listed some of vitamin B3’s top things to know about:
- Function: aids metabolism, supports skin, nerves, and cholesterol levels
- Forms: niacin (nicotinic acid), niacinamide (nicotinamide), inositol hexanicotinate (flush-free niacin)
- Example foods: whole grains, peanuts (literally the best nut for this)
And now, researchers (Dr. Gloria Urgoiti et al.) tested high-dose controlled-release niacin (vitamin B3) alongside standard glioblastoma (a very common form of cancer) treatment and found very encouraging results!
In numbers:
- The participants: patients aged 18–75 with newly diagnosed glioblastoma received standard treatment plus controlled-release niacin
- The safety: the maximum tolerated dose was found to be 2,000mg/day. At 2,500mg/day, dose-limiting toxicities occurred, including severe thrombocytopenia and elevated bilirubin levels. The most common side effect was flushing, reported in 10 of 15 Phase I participants, with most cases being mild.
- The results: among the first wave of evaluable patients, 82.3% remained free of disease progression at 6 months (progression-free survival at six months, or “PFS-6M”).
- How that compares: historical studies of standard treatment report a six-month progression-free survival rate of about 53.9%.
So, that’s quite a difference!
As to how it works, the answer is, put very simply:
❝Niacin treatment rejuvenates immune cells so they can do what they are supposed to do, attack and kill the cancer cells❞
~ Dr. V. Wee Wong, co-author on the study
Want to learn more?
As for why you might want to favor getting this from food if you can, then while the title says “vitamins”, the following book discusses an assortment of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients; the “other nutrients” category including amino acids (branched chain and essential), prebiotics and probiotics, and triglycerides of various kinds:
Eat Your Vitamins – by Mascha Davis, RDN ← see our review, here
Take care!
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Plant vs Animal Protein
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Plant vs Animal Protein: Head to Head
Some people will obviously have strong ideological opinions here—for vegetarians and vegans, it’s no question, and for meat-eaters, it’s easy to be reactive to that and double-down on the bacon. But, we’re a health science newsletter, so we’ll be sticking to the science.
Which is better, healthwise?
First, it depends on how you go about it. Consider these options:
- A piece of salmon
- A steak
- A hot dog
- A hot dog, but plant-based
- Textured soy protein (no additives)
- Edamame (young soy) beans
Three animal-based protein sources, three plant-based. We could render the competition simple (but very unfair) by pitting the hotdog against the edamame beans, or the plant-based hot dog against the piece of salmon. So let’s kick this off by saying:
- There are good and bad animal-based protein sources
- There are good and bad plant-based protein sources
Whatever you choose, keep that in mind while you do. Less processed is better in either case. And if you do go for red meat, less is better, period.
Picking the healthiest from each, how do the nutritional profiles look?
They look good in both cases! One factor of importance is that in either case, our bodies will reduce the proteins we consume to their constituent amino acids, and then rebuild them into the specific proteins we actually need. Our bodies will do that regardless of the source, because we are neither a salmon nor a soybean, for example.
We need 20 specific amino acids, for our bodies to make the proteins we will use in our bodies. Of these, 9 are considered “essential”, meaning we cannot synthesize them and must get them from our diet,
Animal protein sources contain all 9 of those (just like we do). Plant based sources often don’t, individually, but by eating soy for example (which does contain them all) and/or getting multiple sources of protein from different plants, the 9 can be covered quite easily with little thought, just by having a varied diet.
Meats are #1!
- They’re number 1 for nutritional density
- They’re number 1 for health risks, too
So while plant-based diet adherents may need to consume more varied things to get all the nutrients necessary, meat-eaters won’t have that problem.
Meat-eaters will instead have a different problem, of more diet-related health risks, e.g.
- Cardiovascular disease
- Metabolic disorders
- Cancers
So again, if eating (especially processed and/or red) meat, moderation is good. The Mediterranean Diet that we so often recommend, by default contains small amounts of lean animal protein.
Which is better for building muscle?
Assuming a broadly healthy balanced diet, and getting sufficient protein from your chosen source, they’re pretty equal:
- Vegan and Omnivorous High Protein Diets Support Comparable Daily Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis Rates and Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy in Young Adults
- A mycoprotein-based high-protein vegan diet supports equivalent daily myofibrillar protein synthesis rates compared with an isonitrogenous omnivorous diet in older adults: a randomised controlled trial
(both studies showed that both dietary approaches yielded results that showed no difference in muscle synthesis between the two)
The bottom line is…
Healthwise, what’s more important than whether you get your protein from animals or plants is that you eat foods that aren’t processed, and are varied.
And if you want to do a suped-up Mediterranean Diet with less red meat, you might want to try:
A Pesco-Mediterranean Diet With Intermittent Fasting: JACC Review Topic of the Week
^This is from a review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and in few words, they recommend it very highly
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Zero Sugar / One Month – by Becky Gillaspy
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We’ve reviewed books about the evils of sugar before, so what makes this one different?
This one has a focus on helping the reader quit it. It assumes we already know the evils of sugar (though it does cover that too).
It looks at the mechanisms of sugar addiction (habits-based and physiological), and how to safely and painlessly cut through those to come out the other side, free from sugar.
The author gives a day-by-day plan, for not only eliminating sugar, but also adding and including things to fill the gap it leaves, keeping us sated, energized, and happy along the way.
In the category of subjective criticism, it does also assume we want to lose weight, which may not be the case for many readers. But that’s a by-the-by and doesn’t detract from the useful guide to quitting sugar, whatever one’s reasons.
Bottom line: if you would like to quit sugar but find it hard, this book thinks of everything and walks you by the hand, making it easy.
Click here to check out Zero Sugar / One Month, and reap the health benefits!
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The 21-Day Immunity Plan – by Dr. Aseem Malhotra
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We previously reviewed Dr. Malhotra’s “A Statin-Free Life”, and this time he’s back with more lifestyle medicine to naturally improve an important system (or set of systems, depending on how we want to slice it) with our diet and other lifestyle factors.
This is not, however, an “appeal to nature” fallacy, and in fact Dr. Malhotra is a professor of evidence-based medicine (as well as being a cardiologist, not generally a field of the whimsical).
The main premise of the book is that while there are indeed foods that boost immunity per se, the immune system doesn’t exist in a vacuum and is inextricably linked to other systems, and the metabolism as a whole. Thus, the lifestyle approach here prioritizes immune-boosting things as a focus (and avoiding immune-harming things), while lifting overall health too.
The titular “21-day immunity plan” is, thus, largely dietary, but also addresses exercise, and stress management, amongst other factors.
The style is mostly quite light pop-science, with a lot of references to harder science for those who want it.
Bottom line: if you’d like to boost your immunity measurably in the next 21 days, this book is the one for you!
Click here to check out The 21-Day Immunity Plan, and increase your immunity!
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Health Hacks from 20 Doctors
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Doctor Mike’s Approach
You may be used to Tuesday’s expert insights column, where we break down the work or research of a medical expert. Doctor Mike, the creator of the video below, has put us to shame, interviewing 20 experts and condensing it into one, sub 12-minute video.
In short, Doctor Mike has interviewed medical professionals and asked them to share a unique piece of advice, specific to their field, that’s easy to incorporate into your daily routine. He calls them Health Hacks (hey, that sounds similar to our Life Hacks section).
We aren’t going to list out all 20—you’ll have to watch the video for that—but here are a few of our favourites
Toenail Fungus Treatment
Dr. Dana Brems, a podiatrist, reveals that Vicks VapoRub has antifungal properties, and thus can be used on toenails affected by fungus.
Water Intake Myth
Dr. Rena Malik, a urologist, debunks the myth that everyone needs to drink eight glasses of water daily, advising people to drink when thirsty and monitor urine color for hydration.
(You can see what we’ve written on this subject here, as well as here).
Natural Lip Plumper
Dr. Anthony Youn, a plastic surgeon, offers a simple recipe for plumping lips—add a drop or two of food-grade peppermint oil to your lip gloss.
Toothbrushing Technique:
Dr. Winters, an orthodontist, explains that brushing teeth at a 45-degree angle towards the gums is more effective than the common side-to-side method. See our thoughts on this here and here.
Want more tips? Watch them all in the video below:
How was the video? If you’ve discovered any great videos yourself that you’d like to share with fellow 10almonds readers, then please do email them to us!
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