Whether they are fathers, husbands, brothers, or friends, it’s important that the men in our lives take time to focus on their health. These science-backed tips highlight simple steps to help men take charge of their health.

Promoting Heart Health

Since it’s a vital organ responsible for delivering blood to all parts of the body, keeping your heart healthy is paramount for men. Exercise plus a vegetable- and fruit-rich diet can go a long way. In addition, Isagenix offers Heart Shake Booster, a blend of science-supported ingredients that may reduce the risk of heart disease* and support overall cardiovascular health.

Heart Shake Booster contains plant sterols, also called phytosterols, which are naturally present in small quantities in plant-based foods (1). Consuming plant sterols as a supplement helps lower blood cholesterol levels by reducing the amount of dietary cholesterol the body can absorb from foods and helps the body eliminate more cholesterol (2-4).

Heart Shake Booster also contains pantethine and a Mediterranean polyphenol blend. Pantethine is a derivative of vitamin B5 that also supports healthy cholesterol levels and heart health (5, 6). The Mediterranean polyphenol blend is a blend of extracts comprising a Mediterranean diet rich in phytonutrients from fruits and vegetables. Add one scoop of Heart Shake Booster to your favorite IsaLean® Shake twice daily.

Building Muscle Mass

Exercising to build and maintain muscle mass is also an important component of male health, especially as we age. In general, the role of muscle throughout life is underappreciated, as is its importance in preventing obesity and related issues. Loss of muscle mass associated with disuse, disease, and aging may be fundamental to metabolic dysfunction. This can lead to a host of metabolic derangements, including reduced insulin signaling, fat tissue expansion, and increased levels of reactive oxygen species (7).

Men should include some form of resistance training in their exercise program. For weight control, even relatively small differences in muscle mass can have a significant effect on energy balance. For example, every 20-pound difference in lean mass translates to a difference in energy expenditure of approximately 100 calories burned per day. Considering how obesity often develops over longer periods of time, an extra energy expenditure of 100 calories per day translates to a loss of nearly 10 pounds of fat mass per year (7).

Maintaining Fat Loss

Speaking of fat loss, some may need to lose some extra body weight to improve their health. It’s important to make the distinction between fat loss and weight loss. Many who try to rapidly, and often indiscriminately, lose the maximal amount of body weight run into some major setbacks, including muscle loss and weight regain. In fact, research shows that, on average, more than 50% of people who lose weight will regain most of it within the first year. Less than one third will maintain their weight loss for three years (8, 9).

Isagenix provides a simple framework to customize nutrition for men, providing high-quality nutrition in the right amounts. For instance, men generally carry around more lean body mass compared to women. Therefore, using products like IsaLean PRO Shake, which provides 36 grams of high-quality protein, or having an IsaLean Bar as a snack can help maintain muscle mass during weight loss for men.

When used as part of an Isagenix System, Isagenix products are effective for supporting weight loss and improving body composition, as demonstrated by the results of several published scientific studies (10-12). More importantly, Isagenix products are shown to offer superior long-term weight maintenance compared to traditional heart-healthy diets, according to the findings of a 15-month-long clinical research study (12).

Nourishing Skin and Joint Health

While collagen supplementation has been promoted largely to females, collagen is equally as important for males in supporting the health of skin and joints. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, helping build nearly everything from your bones to your skin. It’s an essential component of connective tissue that provides strength, structure, and resilience throughout the body.

Your body naturally produces collagen every day, but production gradually declines over time, which can affect skin and the cartilage in joints (13, 14). AMPED™ Repair contains collagen peptides alongside other natural ingredients like tart cherry, curcumin, and astaxanthin. Collagen peptides are the building blocks of cartilage production, providing strong support for healthy joints.

In healthy men and women, supplementation with collagen peptides has been reported to support recovery from exercise-related joint soreness, which can hamper athletic performance (15-17). Whether you are exercising or not, supplementing with AMPED Repair is a great way to support skin and joint health for men.

Combining these tips with healthy lifestyle habits can help men of all ages feel their best so they can stay on top of all their priorities.

*Foods containing at least 0.65 grams per serving of plant sterol esters, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 1.3 grams, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. A serving of Heart Shake Booster supplies 0.65 grams of plant sterol esters.

References

  1. von Bergmann K, Sudhop T, Lütjohann D. Cholesterol and Plant Sterol Absorption: Recent Insights. Am J Cardiol. 2005;96:10-4.
  2. Mattson FH, Grundy SM, Crouse JR. Optimizing the effect of plant sterols on cholesterol absorption in man. Am J Clin Nutr. 1982;35:697-700.
  3. Malina DM, Fonseca FA, Barbosa SA, Kasmas SH, Machado VA, França CN, et al. Additive effects of plant sterols supplementation in addition to different lipid-lowering regimens. J Clin Lipidol. 2015;9:542-52.
  4. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III). Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (Adult Treatment Panel III) final report. Circulation. 2002;106:3143-421.
  5. Chen YQ, Zhao SP, Zhao YH. Efficacy and tolerability of coenzyme A vs pantethine for the treatment of patients with hyperlipidemia: A randomized, double-blind, multicenter study. J Clin Lipidol. 2015;9:692-7.
  6. Evans M, Rumberger JA, Azumano I, Napolitano JJ, Citrolo D, Kamiya T. Pantethine, a derivative of vitamin B5, favorably alters total, LDL and non-HDL cholesterol in low to moderate cardiovascular risk subjects eligible for statin therapy: a triple-blinded placebo and diet-controlled investigation. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2014;10:89-100.
  7. Wolfe RR. The underappreciated role of muscle in health and disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84:475-82.
  8. Nicklas JM, Huskey KW, Davis RB, Wee CC. Successful weight loss among obese U.S. adults. Am J Prev Med. 2012;42:481-5.
  9. Crawford D, Jeffery RW, French SA. Can anyone successfully control their weight? Findings of a three year community-based study of men and women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000; 24:1107-10.
  10. Klempel MC, Kroeger CM, Bhutani S, Trepanowski JF, Varady KA. Intermittent fasting combined with calorie restriction is effective for weight loss and cardio-protection in obese women. Nutr J. 2012;11:98.
  11. Kroeger CM, Klempel MC, Bhutani S, Trepanowski JF, Tangney CC, Varady KA. Improvement in coronary heart disease risk factors during an intermittent fasting/calorie restriction regimen: Relationship to adipokine modulations. Nutr Metab. 2012;9:98.
  12. Arciero PJ, Edmonds R, He F, Ward E, Gumpricht E, Mohr A, et al.  Protein-Pacing Caloric-Restriction Enhances Body Composition Similarly in Obese Men and Women during Weight Loss and Sustains Efficacy during Long-Term Weight Maintenance. Nutrients. 2016;8;476.
  13. Chung JH, Seo JY, Choi HR, Lee MK, Youn CS, Rhie G, et al. Modulation of skin collagen metabolism in aged and photoaged human skin in vivo. J Invest Dermatol. 2001;117:1218-24.
  14. Rahmati M, Nalesso G, Mobasheri A, Mozafari M. Aging and osteoarthritis: Central role of the extracellular matrix. Ageing Res Rev. 2017;40:20-30.
  15. Clark KL, Sebastianelli W, Flechsenhar KR, Aukermann DF, Meza F, Millard RL, et al. 24-week study on the use of collagen hydrolysate as a dietary supplement in athletes with activity-related joint pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008;24:1485-96.
  16. Zdzieblik D, Oesser S, Gollhofer A, König D. Improvement of activity-related knee joint discomfort following supplementation of specific collagen peptides. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2017;42:588-595.
  17. Dressler P, Gehring D, Zdzieblik D, Oesser S, Gollhofer A, König D. Improvement of functional ankle properties following supplementation with specific collagen peptides in athletes with chronic ankle instability. J Sports Sci Med. 2018;17:298-304.