What is involved in Sarcopenia?
Now you are asking something dear to my heart, because I feel I
understand sarcopenia better than most investigators, but some of what
I write below is only how I imagine it is, I have no proof... On the
other hand, if some of the things I write are not really exactly as I
describe them below, it doesn't matter, because if you assume
they are correct, you will understand what I say better, and I have no
doubt that your health will benefit if you follow most of my advice.
Sarcopenia means age-related loss of muscles... but in fact, what is involved is not only the loss of muscles, but the underlying loss of neurons.
Look up "sarcopenia" in a search engine and you will see that everybody
is concentrating on the loss of muscles, when in fact it is the loss of
neurons and the nervous system that is causing the atrophy and loss of
muscles.
As we age, we lose our nervous system. But this loss of the nervous
system has a cause, and we can lessen or slow down the loss by addressing
the cause. The single most important cause of loss of neurons from the
time we are born to age 50 is transient "high" blood glucose.
What I call "high" and what most doctors call "high" is very different...
Doctors have traditionally not been concerned with passing high blood
glucose, as long as it drops back down in two hours. If we are not
diabetic, fasting blood glucose should be about 90 mg/dl 2 or 3 hours
after our last meal. So... 150's and 160's and 180's have gone
unnoticed because they are "normal". But I notice them. They are very bad,
even if they last only a few hours and our body puts out the fire. I'll explain why, below.
When we are very young, to about age 25 or 30, most healthy people have
a "flat response" to high carb meals. Keep in mind that SUGAR is 100%
carbohydrates, and "high-carb meals" refers to the sugar or energy
content. Our body needs glucose, but we can get glucose from protein
or from carbohydrates, except carbohydrates are ready to go into the
blood as glucose, and protein needs to be converted to glucose so it is
a much slower process. The importance of this is that protein also
gives us energy, but slowly, and carbohydrates give us energy, but
quickly... too quickly.
When we are young, there aren't many highs, and they don't last very
long, because our pancreas is working very well and it is producing and
secreting plenty of insulin whenever needed. Young people with a healthy
pancreas can eat a plate of spaghetti which contains about 60 grams of
carbohydrates (sugar) and they get a flat response... about 100... I eat
the same plate of spaghetti, and I get about 170 mg/dl after about 30 or
40 minutes.
See the Graphs of Typical Glucose Tolerance Tests
Since we are so healthy when we are young, we eat a lot of garbage food... and nothing seemingly happens to us, except we are burning insulin producing
beta cells in our pancreas....
We don't even notice this until we have burned up enough insulin-producing
beta cells... about age 25 or 30 our pancreas is producing less and less
insulin, we start getting slightly higher and higher glucose response to the
same junk foods (chocolate cake, cookies, tacos, cakes, bread and marmalade,
etc.) that we used to eat before without any problem.
But we don't know that we are getting a higher glucose response... Our body can tell when it is thirsty, or when it is hot or cold, and we feel bad if our body temperature goes up a few degrees (fever) but we don't feel ill, or anything at all, if our glucose level is up to 180 mg/dl after eating two
plates of delicious spaghetti. It was not until the 1970's that somebody
invented the glucose meter, that suddenly we are able to measure our glucose
easily. It is like a wonderful new organ of our body, if we use it, and nothing if we don't use it.
(I highly recommend that everybody should buy a glucose meter and start to
measure your blood glucose before and after eating, because it changed my
eating habits once I understood how food affects my blood glucose... and
once I understood how food affects my blood glucose, I framed my new
understanding in what I called "The Glucose Theory of Aging" which is
really "The Glucose Law of Aging" because it is like the law of gravity:
it works all the time, it is true for everybody, and there are no
exceptions. (maybe my interpretation of the figures is not how you would
call it.)
See the Glucose Theory of Aging and my interpretation of the meaning of blood
But... quickly... 70 to 90 is ideal before eating, 70 to 105 is acceptable
and normal after eating (but try to bring it down to 90 as soon as possible,
"by hook or by crook" which means: by exercise or by insulin or by however
you can, just bring it down!) 120 is BAD... 140 is TERRIBLE... 160 is
HORRIBLE... 180 is DEATHLY... and 200 or more is SUICIDAL...
You should memorize this table... use my words or use your own, but that is
the way it works. It may seem that I am exaggerating to call 180 "deathly"
but I really am not, since 180 for a long time will cause you kidney
problems which is going to cause your "death" many years before you should
die.)
But... getting back to when we were young and we damaged our pancreas,
thus causing higher and higher blood glucose levels... We know that glucose
sticks to protein and damages it, in a process called "glycosilation".
Glucose also sticks to neurons and damages them. The point to remember is
that the amount of glycosilation is proportional to blood glucose levels,
so blood glucose damages more protein and neurons when glucose is high than
when glucose is low.
We can actually measure this damage in a blood test called Hb-A1c, which
means "glycosilated hemoglobin" or hemoglobin that has a glucose molecule
attached to it. 5.5% is "normal" for the population. Zero would be
better... but we can't get zero, because we need some glucose in our body,
because glucose is energy, and we need energy.
So... glucose helps us because it gives us energy, but it also hurts us because it sticks to and damages neurons and proteins. We are forced to live with it, and we will die someday because of it.
We can, however, affect how fast we will be damaged by glucose, because we
can keep our glucose levels "low", 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Now... it is important to understand how to interpret Hb-A1c... Since
we always have to have SOME glucose in our blood, because glucose is
"the fire within us" and we have to have some heat for energy, minimum
and normal glucose levels are 70 to 90 mg/dl... so we always have some
glucose that is stuck to hemoglobin... This minimum is 4.5%... If your
Hb-A1c is 4.5%, that is EXCELLENT and about the least possible that is
healthy.
So... if you could keep it that low after age 40, you will lose your nervous
system, but you will lose it as slowly as is compatible with life. Nobody
knows how slow that could be, because nobody has ever known this idea to try
it for a lifetime (but maybe "ltkpn" will try it, now that I hope he is
reading it).
But as average 24 hour blood glucose rises, more glucose sticks to
hemoglobin, and presumably also to neurons... so glucose damages more
hemoglobin, and we guess it is also damaging more neurons. That is,
if we could keep glucose levels at 90 mg/dl we have damage, but when
glucose levels shoot up to 160 for 2 hours because we drank a delicious
and healthy large glass of Florida Orange Juice, (which we have all
been told is wonderful for our health) we are causing more glucose to
stick to and damage more neurons.
THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR GLUCOSE LEVELS AS LOW AS
IS HEALTHY, IE, BETWEEN 70 AND 90, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE, EVERY DAY,
24 HOURS A DAY. Even glucose levels of 100 are a bit worse than glucose
levels of 90, which is why I go to the extreme of injecting insulin when
my glucose levels are barely 100.
This means I carry a syringe with insulin ready to inject in my pocket...
I inject before a meal, and I inject after a meal. I know this is an
extreme, but if by doing this I might save a few billion neurons for an
extra decade or two, I think they will be very useful when I will be 95
years old.
And this brings me back to EPO... There are several causes of loss of
neurons... the most important cause until age 50 is transient high blood
glucose levels, even if we are not diabetic, and especially if we are
diabetic (because glucose levels are higher for a longer time in a
diabetic.)
But after age 50 there is another cause of loss of neurons
because now we also start to have an age related drop of red blood cells,
which means an age related drop of circulating OXYGEN... This is why
I try to keep my red blood cell constantly high with EPO. I could be
running 5 or 10 miles, and probably also keep my red blood cell volume
high. (many long distance runners and long distance cyclists have a
higher red blood cell volume than their peers, and 50% hematocrit is
frequent.) But I am not a long distance runner... I take EPO which is
a perfectly good and natural solution to the problem.
And the third cause of loss of neurons is probably the age related
drop in growth hormone. We know that growth hormone is good for the
nervous system. There have been studies that show that injectible
growth hormone restores some of the feeling after an accident, and
there are many reasons to think that growth hormone preserves the
nervous system, maybe even restores some of it. So the age related
drop in growth hormone, and probably other hormones that we know drop
with age, such as DHEA, melatonin, testosterone, thyroid and perhaps
other hormones might all be beneficial in one way or another to help
preserve the nervous system...
So... that is "what is involved in sarcopenia," to answer your question.
Take a look at my page http://www.rajeun.net/sarcopenia.html where you
get the absolute best anti-sarcopenia program on planet earth today,
because it does not only focus on exercise to prevent loss of muscles,
which is the obvious thing that pops to most people's mind. It is a
very comprehensive plan meant to preserve the nervous system, starting
with eating in such a way that you get the nutrients your body needs but
you do not raise glucose levels any higher than necessary; exercise;
vitamins and other supplements which are good for the nervous system;
avoid toxic metals and radiation and other poisons and toxins; EDTA
chelation to keep the circulatory system clean and healthy to carry
blood; a very broad hormone replacement program, including growth hormone,
testosterone, DHEA, melatonin, and insulin when necessary to control
glucose levels; and finally, take care of the brain itself, with EPO
to keep or raise red blood cells to a healthy level, hyperbaric oxygen,
hydergine, or piracetam, or vinpocetin, to get sufficient water,
nutrients, and oxygen to the brain, and coincidentally to all the
neurons in our body. - Ellis]
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Note: I am not a doctor, and I do not give medical advice or treatment of any kind. My advice is limited to a discussion of nutrition and a general discussion of anti-aging hormones and available blood tests and therapies, etc. Please consult with an anti-aging doctor of your choice after you have consulted with me.
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