Breaking Research For 3-4-99

Dr. Robert R. Wolfe of the Shriners Burns Institute and colleagues there and at The University of Texas Medical Branch gave a group of six healthy elderly individuals (average age, 71 years) intravenous infusions of labeled amino acids.

The researchers discovered that the protein infusion stimulated muscle protein anabolism as measured by increased amino acid delivery and transport, as well as a rise in muscle protein synthesis. Since the efficiency of protein synthesis in the muscles examined did not change, they believe that the increase in net protein synthesis was directed related to the increase in protein intake.

This effect has also been "...observed in young individuals in similar experimental conditions," the researchers say. In the elderly, they conclude in the May 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, "...the response of muscle amino-acid transport and net protein synthesis to increased amino-acid availability is preserved."

Dr. Wolfe and his colleagues conclude in their paper that maintaining protein or amino acid intake over time could help reduce the muscle wasting that occurs with age.

J Clin Invest 1998;101:000-000.

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