Apr 30, 2018
According to Dr Gabrielle Lyon losing muscle is tantamount to
losing brain tissue which is one of the core processes that occurs
in Alzheimer's.
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon is a Functional medicine physician focusing
on Muscle-Centric Medicine. She leverages evidence-based medicine
with emerging cutting-edge science to restore metabolism, balance
hormones and optimize body composition.
Prior to her foray into medicine, Dr. Lyon was a national
semifinalist in Fitness America, and a professional fitness model.
Dr Lyon currently works as a practicing physician in New York City.
She recently co-authored a chapter in a textbook, the Chapter is
entitled "Metabolic Interventions for Sarcopenic Obesity."
What is sarcopenia?
Sarcopenia is age-associated loss of muscle mass and
function.
When sarcopenia AND obesity are both going on in someone they
compound each other.
Dr Lyon maintains that there are signs of muscle loss long
before actual sarcopenia sets in.
Interestingly, obesity is somewhat analogous to aging in that
both are low grade inflammatory/catabolic/breakdown states where
healing becomes more difficult.
Dr Lyon's Ideal Body Weights
-Women 15-20% body fat
-Men 12-15%
How does this get diagnosed or assessed?
DEXA scan
Gait Speed
-
time yourself to see how long it takes you walk 4, 5, or 10
meters
-
repeat this twice (walking at a comfortable pace for
you)
-
an average speed of <0.8meters oer second
BIA (what are the magic numbers on BIA)
Hormone Lab Patters Are Often as Follows
- LOW: estrogen, total testosterone, SHBG, DHEA, Free thyroxine
3, growth hormone, Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1,
- INCREASED: prolactin, cortisol, Free thyroxine 4, reverse
thyroxine 3, leptin and insulin resistance.
- Secondary hyperparathyroidism sometimes because of low vitamin
D levels
When Leptin is higher than 10 Dr Lyon notices that people
respond well to time restricted eating 2-3 times per week. If
higher than 30 she likes them do 24-hour fast once a week (can
drink water and coffee, under medical supervision of
course).
Women's muscle changes as they age. Muscle changes to Type 2
fibers, bulky and strong, and then begins to atrophy. Many aging
women tend to lose muscle mass as they age. Dr Lyon notes that many
women have under performing (low) thyroid. Thyroid, among other
hormones, are important for muscle building, tendon tissue
homeostasis (eg alot of musculoskeletal type injury).
Dr Lyon goes into detail on where the RDA's recommendations
for protein were derived from and how and why she disagrees and
other noted experts with them.
Dr Lyon suggests a protein intake of 1.5grams per kg of body
weight for optimal muscle in aging. This is nearly DOUBLE than the
RDA recommendation. The reason for this is to activate a
muscle/protein building pathway (ie the "insulin mTOR-metabolic
pathway") in the body that will not activate without this.
The protein should be distributed over the course of a day (eg 3
times per day) with the right amount and enough of it. At least 30
grams with each of your 3 meals would be the minimum to
engage the muscle building pathway. These should typically be
spaced about 4 hours away from each other. 90 grams might be
the lowest someone would go in order to engage the MTOR-based
muscle building pathway.
With age reduction of protein absorption, increased splanchnic
extraction gives rise to needing to intake higher amounts of
protein. 2.5grams of leucine equates to about 4-5 grams of
something protein in something like chicken or beef or fortified
amino acids powders. mimize carbohydrates to 30-45 grams with meals
to reduce your insulin response as carbohydrates are made during
your body's breaking down protein. Aging men with
healthy kidneys may consider getting up to 40-50 grams up to three
times per day.
Leucine helps generate Glutamine and Arginine and other
elements related to the immune system, blood pressure regulation,
and other critical functions
Rice/Pea protein are often fortified to have good numbers of
branched chain amino acids (leucine importantly included among
them).
Dr Lyon Exercise Fundamentals
Upper Body Resistance
-Bench press
-Push ups
-Pull ups or rowing maching
Lower Body Resistance
-Squat
-Deadlifts
General Cardioaerobic
-1-2 days per week of 12-20 minutes of interval sprints,
rowing or skiing
Note: Dr Lyon's approach represents one important approach to
muscle synthesis in aging. There are other formidable opinions on
the impact of amino acids, high protein diets and aging that were
not covered in this episode.