![Photo: Fruits and vegetables. Link to photo information](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20081106055254im_/http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/dec99/k8666-1i.jpg)
A diet rich in alkaline-producing fruits and
vegetables may help preserve muscle mass. Click the image for more
information about it.
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Plant Foods for Preserving Muscle Mass
By Rosalie Marion
Bliss
May 23, 2008 Fruits and vegetables contain essential
vitamins, minerals and fiber that are key to good health. Now, a newly released
study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists suggests plant foods
also may help preserve muscle mass in older men and women.
The study was led by physician and nutrition specialist
Bess
Dawson-Hughes at the
Jean
Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at
Tufts University in Boston, Mass.
The typical American diet is rich in protein, cereal grains and other
acid-producing foods. In general, such diets generate tiny amounts of acid each
day. With aging, a mild but slowly increasing metabolic "acidosis"
develops, according to the researchers.
Acidosis appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response. So the researchers
looked at links between measures of lean body mass and diets relatively high in
potassium-rich, alkaline-residue producing fruits and vegetables. Such diets
could help neutralize acidosis. Foods can be considered alkaline or acidic
based on the residues they produce in the body, rather than whether they are
alkaline or acidic themselves. For example, acidic grapefruits are metabolized
to alkaline residues.
The researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis on a subset of nearly
400 male and female volunteers aged 65 or older who had completed a three-year
osteoporosis intervention trial. The volunteers' physical activity, height and
weight, and percentage of lean body mass were measured at the start of the
study and at three years. Their urinary potassium was measured at the start of
the study, and their dietary data was collected at 18 months.
Based on regression models, volunteers whose diets were rich in potassium
could expect to have 3.6 more pounds of lean tissue mass than volunteers with
half the higher potassium intake. That almost offsets the 4.4 pounds of lean
tissue that is typically lost in a decade in healthy men and women aged 65 and
above, according to authors. The study was published in the March issue of the
American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition.
Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, can lead to falls due to weakened leg
muscles. The authors encourage future studies that look into the effects of
increasing overall intake of foods that metabolize to alkaline residues on
muscle mass and functionality.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.