One of the challenges of people reaching their golden years is being able to meet their nutrition requirements, particularly as it comes to protein and vitamin D necessary for supporting muscle and bone health.

Now new research lends support for combining whey protein with vitamin D as a supplement for breakfast in older people to assist them with reaching their nutritional needs for healthy aging.

Nutritional Strategies for Preserving Muscle

Scientists have long known that age-related loss of muscle tissue can be slowed through a number of nutritional strategies. These include consuming an adequate amount of protein per meal and using high-quality protein with readily available essential amino acids.

An essential amino acid of particular importance is leucine due to its role in stimulation of muscle protein synthesis. Whey protein, naturally rich in leucine, has also been shown to stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the growth of new muscle) when consumed at 25-30 grams during a meal.

Another nutritional strategy for maintaining muscle in older adults is supplementation with vitamin D. It’s common for older adults to have a low status of the vitamin, which plays an important role in muscle protein metabolism.

Muscle Increases in Healthy Older Men

In a new study published in the Journal of Nutrition in August, the combination of whey protein and vitamin D helped to increase muscle in healthy older men.

In the double-blind trial, researchers randomized 24 healthy older men (ages 67-74) to either breakfast supplemented with 21 grams of leucine-enriched whey protein combined with 800 IU vitamin D for six weeks or a flavoured placebo drink.

The researchers measured muscle protein synthesis through muscle biopsy (fractional synthesis rate) four hours post-meal.  They also measured longer-term changes with DEXA scans at week 0 and week 6 of the trial.

After six weeks, they found that the subjects who consumed the whey and vitamin D had significantly higher fractional synthesis rates compared to the control group and gained significantly more lean mass, predominantly as leg lean mass.

Where Isagenix Fits

One of the cornerstones of an Isagenix System is easy and accessible good nutrition, particularly at breakfast with products like IsaLean™ Shake and IsaLean™ PRO Shake, combined with the complete nutrition system provided in Complete Essentials™ With IsaGenesis™.

An IsaLean or IsaLean PRO Shake will provide 24 g or 36 g of premium quality whey protein respectively (which includes 2-3 g of leucine) and a twice-daily dose of Complete Essentials With IsaGenesis will deliver 5000 IU of Vitamin D.

What does this mean for you? Based on the results of this study, a morning routine with an Isagenix shake and book-ending your day with the Complete Essentials daily A.M. and P.M. packs can help to keep muscle mass in good shape now and into the future.

References

Chanet A, Verlaan S, Salles J, et al. Supplementing Breakfast with a Vitamin D and Leucine-Enriched Whey Protein Medical Nutrition Drink Enhances Postprandial Muscle Protein Synthesis and Muscle Mass in Healthy Older Men. J Nutr. 2017 Aug 23. [Epub ahead of print]