How Maintaining Healthy Skeletal Muscle Can Improve Your Health: From Memory to Inflammation
Eating enough quality protein is one of the best ways to maintain the health of your skeletal muscle.
Skeletal Muscle Functions/Benefits:
Skeletal muscle has many functions. Best known are keeping us physically strong by aiding our posture and breathing, allowing us to walk, and so on. Skeletal muscle is an endocrine organ, helping us with much more than our posture. Endocrine organs, a part of the endocrine system, which is responsible for creating and releasing hormones to help regulate and maintain body function. Examples of other endocrine organs are the thyroid and pancreas. As an endocrine organ, our skeletal muscles sense amino acids (broken-down proteins) in the bloodstream and acts accordingly. This is why eating high-quality protein (with a range of amino acids) is important.
Glucose Uptake:
When you eat carbohydrates, they are broken down into glucose. Excess glucose in the bloodstream can lead to adverse health consequences. Healthy skeletal muscle absorbs extra glucose in the bloodstream, as it is the primary site for glucose disposal. The more muscle you have, the more space is available for glucose disposal. Therefore, there is less glucose in the bloodstream, which has the potential to create adverse effects. This helps improve insulin resistance and lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Secrete Myokines:
As an endocrine organ, muscles produce anti-inflammatory molecules called myokines. When skeletal muscle is contracted, the myokines are released into the bloodstream. Myokines work within the endocrine system to help regulate inflammation, body weight, and insulin sensitivity. Additionally, they help suppress tumor growth and improve cognitive function [1].
Reduced Risk for Alzheimer's Disease (AD):
Alzheimer's is often referred to as the "diabetes of the brain." Healthy skeletal muscle can help reduce the risk for AD. Study E found that patients suffering from AD showed reduced skeletal muscle mass and strength [2].
Keep Your Skeletal Muscle Healthy:
Protein:
Protein is one of the key ways to keep your skeletal muscle healthy. The dietary protein you eat is broken down into amino acids. Nine of these amino acids are "essential", meaning the body cannot make them and they must come from one's diet. Each amino acid has a specific function, for example, theranine plays a role in gut health. Leucine is especially important for maintaining muscle health as it triggers muscle protein synthesis (growing of muscle tissue). Leucine, lysine, and methionine are 3 of the most important amino acids for building and maintaining muscle. They can be found in foods such as turkey, lean beef, chicken breast, eggs, white beans, and more.
Aging:
As we age, the nutrient-sensing ability (ability to know when and what amino acids are in the bloodstream) and efficiency of our skeletal muscle decreases. Additionally, as women age, their hormones decline, making it more difficult to maintain muscle. One way to counteract this is by eating more protein (amino acids) to trigger muscle protein synthesis.
Resistance Training:
You want your muscle cells to be constantly turning over. Through resistance training, you stress your muscles which begins the process of breaking down tissue. By consuming dietary protein, you can rebuild a newer and stronger muscle. Think of the process of breaking down and rebuilding muscle tissue as similar to skin exfoliation. After skin exfoliation, you are left with clearer, smoother skin.
Muscle Health Tips:
Your First Meal: For your first meal of the day, you are coming off an overnight fast so it is ideal to eat 30-50 grams of protein. This also sets your body up for proper blood sugar regulation.
Bioavaliability: Animal protein is the most bioavailable form, meaning the amino acids are more easily absorbed and used by the body.
A note on plant-based diets: While it is still possible to meet your protein requirement while plant-based, it is much more difficult. It can be helpful to add in a branch chain amino acid supplement. Soy/rice/pea blends make an ideal blend of amino acids.
How much protein to consume: An ideal amount of protein to consume for muscle growth is 1 gram per pound of ideal body. If you are older you may need more.
How much resistance training is necessary: Three to four days a week of resistance training and working each muscle twice is ideal.
Just as you would take a supplement for your thyroid (an endocrine organ), exercise and eating protein is an incredible "supplement."
Resources:
1)
Hoffmann C, Weigert C. Skeletal Muscle as an Endocrine Organ: The Role of Myokines in
Exercise Adaptations. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2017 Nov 1;7(11):a029793. Doi:
10.1101/cshperspect.a029793. PMID: 28389517; PMCID: PMC5666622.
2)
Boyle, P. A., Buchman, A. S., Wilson, R. S., Leurgans, S. E. & Bennett, D. A. Association of
muscle strength with the risk of Alzheimer disease and the rate of cognitive decline in
community-dwelling older persons. Arch. Neurol. 66, 1339–1344 (2009).
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