Does Protein Speed Up Aging? Muscle Growth VS Longevity (Over 50 You Need to Know This)

Does protein speed up aging? Muscle growth vs longevity (over 50 you need to know this)

We train to be healthy, get fit, build muscle and strength. Ultimately this should allow us to live longer, but is the diet we need to support our hard training increasing our risk of premature aging and death?

The 2014 study that brings this into question looked at two groups of people. One was between 50 and 65 the second group was 66 years of age and older.

It was an extensive study of over 6,000 people. And what they found was that low protein diets reduced the risk of mortality in 50 to 65-year-olds. But the opposite was true with those over 65, in this group; low protein diets increased the risk of death.

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So what changed between the ages of 65 to 66 that they all of a sudden require a high protein diet? The researchers felt this might be because the additional protein helps to offset age-related weight loss.

They also cited the possibility of protein sensitivity playing a role; as we get older, our ability to absorb protein diminishes. They talk about the hormone IGF 1 or insulin-like growth factor 1, but we’ll come back to that in a minute.

One of the biggest flaws I found with this study is that they didn’t separate healthy and unhealthy people. Nor does it look at factors like activity and fitness level. These two elements clearly affect lifespan and mortality.

One group in the first study that didn’t benefit from increased protein even over 65, who as a whole requires more protein, had diabetes. With diabetics, their hormones are not functioning properly—most notably insulin.

Two of the best things people with diabetes can do to improve their insulin sensitivity is to lose excess body fat and build muscle. Increasing your protein intake can help with this, but it needs to be done along with a properly structured training and nutrition plan that puts you in a slight calorie deficit.

Another hormone that needs to be functioning properly is IGF1 which turns on a growth pathway called mTOR. This puts the body into growth mode, allowing us to build new cells and, ultimately, muscle.

When our bodies function correctly, the mTOR growth pathway gets turned on and off as needed. It goes wrong when it gets stuck in the on position—increasing our risk for things like cancer.

Protein turns on mTOR and up-regulates IGF1. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering something else that turns on mTOR is exercise. Exercise, including resistance training, improves our health and odds for a long life.

According to a meta-analysis done in 2011, both low and high levels of IGF1 are associated with increased mortality. So there’s a healthy range we want IGF1 to stay in.

People with diabetes have more trouble with high levels of IGF1 because of another hormone, insulin, according to an article published in the journal of the national cancer institute. Chronically elevated insulin levels increase IGF1, which in turn can increase the risk of colorectal cancer.

What we’re starting to see here is it isn’t protein that’s the problem. It’s an improperly functioning endocrine system.

They state from a population and preventative perspective; it appears that modifying insulin levels by reducing obesity, changing diet, and increase in physical activity may be the most effective strategy for lowering levels of bioavailable IGF-I.

https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article/94/13/972/2519794
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00062-X?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS155041311400062X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/96/9/2912/2834729?login=false
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21778224/
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(14)00138-7/fulltext