When do all of these issues begin? The answer is after 30 years of age. After 30, muscle deterioration begins by 1% per year in men due to reduced hormonal concentration. 3. 4. 5. 6. If an individual does not exercise, he will probably experience an even more significant muscle deterioration. This represents a considerable problem. An article in The Lancet 7.by Regina Guthold indicates that the prevalence of insufficient physical activity was 27.5% worldwide. In comparison, this percentage was even higher in high-income western countries (37.8%). What makes things even worse is that sarcopenia often appears in combination with other aging health diseases. One of them is osteoporosis. A decline in bone density accompanies the decrease in muscle mass. All this increases the possibility of falls and significantly reduces the quality of life.
Can Sarcopenia Be Reversed?
The solution is straightforward: Exercise and eat well. Of course, in addition to the fact that people do not move enough, they also do not have a balanced diet. Furthermore, there are some essential and semi-essential nutrients that we cannot get in sufficient quantities despite a balanced diet. In order to support physical exercise and a balanced diet, we should use proven and effective supplements. However, even better is if we can find a supplement that contains a combination of those nutrients. BUILD is that kind of supplement. It consists of 5 grams of creatine monohydrate, 3 grams of beta-alanine, and 3 grams of beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate (HMB). All of these supplements have already been examined in numerous studies about their effects on sarcopenia. But the critical question is how they will work together to be more effective than any other product on the market.
It’s essential for us to show you how to fight sarcopenia and why BUILD is essential in the fight. In order to do so, we need to explain the potential pathogenesis of sarcopenia. What happens to us when we grow old.
What Happens When We Age
Muscle Morphology
In addition to the previously mentioned muscle mass loss, it seems that there is a change in myofibrillar protein isoform expression as we get older. Fast-twitch muscle fibres become slow-twitch muscle fibres. 8.This is important because creatine is predominant in high-intensity activities done mainly by those fast-twitch muscle fibres, so there is a justified assumption that creatine levels will decrease due to this phenomenon.
Muscle Contraction
The aging process harms muscle fibres and sarcoplasmic reticulum protein quality and function. 9. Also, there is a lower concentration of myosin in the muscle. 10. All these factors cause a decrease in maximum contractile force production in skeletal muscle.
Muscle Protein and Hormonal Kinetics
The processes of the human body do not differ much from traffic rules. They are just a little more complicated. We always have diametrically different processes that keep our organism in balance, also known as homeostasis. Anabolic processes are responsible for muscle growth. Catabolism, on the other hand, leads to muscle breakdown. A problem arises over the years that catabolism prevails over anabolism, drastically reducing muscle mass. 11. As we pointed out at the beginning of the text, it starts at the age of 30 but worsens each year after that.
Oxidative Stress
With aging, there is a notable decrease in oxidative homeostasis. 12. Elevated oxidative damage upregulates antioxidant systems. All of this results in higher inflammation. Inflammatory cytokines have been shown to result in muscle atrophy and protein catabolism. 13. 14
How BUILD Can Help Us
All of these changes negatively affect muscle mass. It is an alarm for all of us under 30. We don’t need to wait until we are 70 years old to start doing something that can help us. Each BUILD ingredient helps in solving all of the above aging problems differently.
Famous NFL player Rob Zatchetka once said: “There’s no magic bullet out there. But creatine is about the closest thing.” 15. The functions of creatine on energy metabolism are very well known. Creatine is one of the most significant energy sources. It is the foundation for all our activity. 15. Creatine supplementation can significantly increase muscle creatine levels. Increasing muscle creatine not only will improve training but also the performance of daily activities. One of many creatine powers is to stimulate protein synthesis, especially by promoting intracellular fluid retention. For example, 12 weeks of resistance training and creatine supplementation resulted in increased lean muscle mass and bone density among 42 participants aged 60–80. 16. In addition to this, the results from one meta-analysis highlight the impact of creatine supplementation during resistance training in healthy aging by enhancing muscle mass gain, strength, and functional performance over resistance training alone. 17. Of course, many more studies show positive results of creatine supplementation on the increase in muscle mass in the elderly. Still, we will not talk about that because we will grow old until we finish. In addition to muscle, small amounts of creatine are found in the nervous system and play a fundamental role in brain functions and neuromuscular control. 18.BUILD contains 5g of creatine monohydrate, and this dose is considered high but safe, even for long-term use. This amount of creatine will provide all of the above-listed benefits. But BUILD is not only creatine. BUILD is much more.
Protein synthesis and muscle branching, as listed above, are two of the biggest causes of sarcopenia. Leucine is an essential amino acid that is important for anabolic reactions in muscles. Perhaps even more important is HMB, a derivative of leucine, which is currently being studied extensively to determine its effects in people with sarcopenia. HMB is incredibly effective and has multiple roles in maintaining and increasing muscle mass. It enhances protein synthesis by its involvement in the mammalian target of the rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. 19. Moreover, HMB has positively affected myogenesis by activating the protein kinase pathway. 20. HMB supplementation may also attenuate protein degradation 21. by diminishing mitochondrial-associated caspases and the consequent production of reactive oxygen species. 22. These statements are confirmed in many studies. The result from one systematic review, 23. which is the most relevant source of scientific information, supports that HMB can improve lean muscle mass and maintain muscle strength and functionality in older people with sarcopenia. For example, BUILD contains 3g of HMB, which is the dose most recommended in all of the previous studies. This statement is supported by similar observations in one review study where all of the analyzed studies accepted 3g of HMB as an optimal dose. 24.
When we grow old, we feel weak, have less energy, and get tired quickly. Getting old also means the reduction of fast muscle fibers followed by reduced carnosine levels in the muscles. This lack of carnosine is one of the main reasons why we get tired easily. Beta-alanine is one of the most important elements in carnosine synthesis in muscle. Beta-alanine supplementation can significantly increase muscle carnosine levels and thus reduce fatigue. Jeffrey Stout, one of the leading experts in exercise physiology and nutrition, investigated the relationship between muscle carnosine content and fatigue among the older population. 25. He indicates that improvement in intercellular pH control could positively affect muscle endurance and decrease fatigue. This change could lead to improvements in health and independent living in elderly men and women. In addition to sarcopenia, beta-alanine benefits on various diseases such as diabetes 26. and neurodegenerative disorders 27. have been documented. One of the leading scientists in the field of supplementation and sports physiology, professor Jay Hoffman, has proven the synergistic effects of creatine and beta-alanine. Combining these two supplements has a positive impact on increasing muscle strength and endurance. 28. With this in mind, beta-alanine is now moving towards being used as a nutrient for older adults in addition to its proven and recognizable sports performance-enhancing effects.
This paper has explained sarcopenia’s phenomenon and how BUILD can improve the quality of life and fight this treacherous disease. From our point of view, BUILD should not only be consumed if we have sarcopenia. It is an excellent prevention strategy, and as the old saying goes, it is better to prevent than to cure. This is a call and a warning to all of us who are moving into some more mature years that we need to start exercising and use all the dietary supplements that can help us improve our physical shape and quality of life. Creatine, beta-alanine, and HMB — imagine all of these “guys” as Marvel superheroes with one or more superpowers. Now imagine one super superhero with all of these powers combined. That superhero is BUILD.
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