Published: October 30, 2018 | By Alexis Bullock
Sara Oikawa, a PhD Candidate in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University (supervised by Dr. Stuart Phillips), delivered a talk on her work entitled:
“Skeletal muscle disuse: Can we counter inactivity with protein quality?”
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Skeletal muscle mass progressively declines starting after the age of 50, but the loss is accelerated during periods of reduced daily physical activity (illness, surgery, hospitalization)
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Sara’s project examined the effect of protein supplement quality during a period of reduced daily physical activity in healthy older adults
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She found that when adults were provided with a twice daily supplement that both groups consuming high quality protein (whey) and poor quality protein (collagen) lost equal amounts of muscle
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When participants went back to being physically active, only the whey protein supplemented group increased muscle mass and also restored their muscle building potential, while the collagen supplemented group did not
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Protein quality is an important consideration when looking to consume a supplement or suggest one to older adults
Contact Sara (oikawasy@mcmaster.ca) for more information on her research.
This blog post was first published by the MIRA Trainee Network. Read the ​original article.​
