Nutritional interventions to preserve skeletal muscle mass

Muscle mass is the main predictor for muscle strength and physical function. The amount of muscle mass can decline rapidly during periods of reduced physical activity or during periods of energy intake restriction. For athletes, it is important to maintain muscle mass, since the loss of muscle is associated with decreased muscle strength, decreased physical performance and a longer recovery period. In the older and more clinically compromised populations, the consequences of muscle loss can substantially impact metabolic health, physical functioning, quality of life and mortality rates. In this thesis, the effects of different nutritional interventions on the preservation of muscle mass are being evaluated. Vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D) has been associated with increased muscle loss and reduced muscle strength. In chapter 2 , we identified seasonal changes in 25(OH)D concentration in elite athletes. We observed that 25(OH)D concentrations were highest at the end of summer (113±26 nmol/L), and lowest at the end of winter (78±30 nmol/L). Athletes that had a sufficient 25(OH)D concentration (>75 nmol/L) at the start of the study, still had a high risk (20%) of being deficient ( chapter 3 , we assessed 25(OH)D concentrations in 128 highly-trained athletes and found that 70% had a deficient or insufficient 25(OH)D concentration at the end of the winter season. Supplementation with 2200 IU/d vitamin D resulted in a sufficient 25(OH)D concentration in 80% of the athletes after 12 months and was therefore a better dosage to improve 25(OH)D concentration than 400 or 1100 IU/d. In the following chapters, we assessed the effects of creatine supplementation ( chapter 4 ), leucine supplementation ( chapter 5 ) and nandrolone administration ( chapter 6 ) on the preservation of muscle mass during a short period of muscle disuse. For all of these compounds there is prior evidence for their efficacy in augmenting muscle mass and strength gains in combination with resistance-type exercise training and all have been suggested to attenuate the loss of muscle mass during a period of muscle disuse. During 7 days of single-leg immobilization, muscle mass decreased by ~6% and muscle strength decreased by ~8%. Surprisingly, none of the tested compounds attenuated the loss of muscle mass during 7 days of single-leg immobilization in healthy, young men. In chapter 7 , we performed a fully controlled dietary intervention to assess the impact of a high protein intake on the preservation of lean body mass during 12 weeks of energy intake restriction. Sixty-one overweight and obese men and women were randomly assigned to either a high protein diet (1.7 g/kg/d) or a normal protein diet (0.9 g/kg/d) during 12 weeks of 25% energy intake restriction. During the dietary intervention, subjects lost 9±3 kg body weight with a concomitant 2±2 kg decline in lean body mass with no differences between the two intervention groups. Thus, increasing protein intake above habitual intake levels (0.9 g/kg/d) did not preserve lean body mass during a period of energy intake restriction. Finally, in chapter 8 we reflected on the main findings described in this thesis. In this chapter, we point out that the populations studied were all healthy and well-nourished. We conclude that in these populations, additional creatine, leucine and protein beyond habitual intakes did not preserve muscle mass. Older and/or malnourished individuals might be more responsive to these nutritional interventions. Future research could also focus on the combined effects of two or more nutritional compounds during disuse that are known to affect different mechanisms. Moreover, we speculate that the tested nutritional compounds could be effective in accelerating the regain of muscle mass and strength after a period of muscle loss. However, it should be noted that muscle loss during disuse occurs at a rate that is several-fold greater than muscle (re)gain during resistance type exercise training. Therefore, it is imperative that we continue our endeavors to identify nutritional or pharmaceutical compounds or exercise mimetics that may help to prevent or attenuate disuse atrophy.