Sport Supplement May Help Shield Elders Against Falls
According to ‘Senior Health’, 30 percent of women aged 65 – 85 will fall; over half of women after age 85 will suffer a fall. For men, the proportion who fall increases from 13 percent in the 65-69 age group to a peak of 31 percent in the 80-84 age group. There are also complications after the fall leading to a decrease in ability to do daily activities of daily living and in quality of life.
To find anything that might reduce the incidence of falls would be a boon to geriatric medicine. According to some recent research at the University of Oklahoma, the dietary supplement beta-alanine improves muscle endurance in the elderly, thus indirectly preventing falls by increasing muscular strength and stamina.
Beta-alanine is widely used by athletes to bulk up and increase their muscle mass. Now research, published in the journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests that the same benefit may hold true for the geriatric crowd.
Research on the fall reduction was carried out by Jeffrey Stout, PhD and a team of colleagues. According to Stout, “This could have importance in the prevention of falls, and the maintenance of health and independent living in elderly men and women.”
Beta-alanine (BA) is an amino acid that, together with histidine, forms the dipeptide carnosine. Carnosine is found in muscle tissue and makes an important contribution of the maintenance of intracellular pH, which is vital for normal muscle function during intense exercise. An increased intake of BA significantly raises muscle carnosine levels.
Sixty-seven percent of the participants showed an increase in muscle strength/fitness levels as opposed to 21% in the control group. Fall measurement was not noted in the abstract. The association was made
as to a decrease in functional capacity to perform daily living tasks with an increase in mortality, primarily from falls.
It is not clear why the researchers did not supplement with carnosine in the first place as opposed to a pre-cursor. This leaves room for future study and inquiry. Also, the study group contained only 26 elderly men and women given a 90 day course of BA. How the level of supplementation was determined is a big variable and the low number of participants in a statistical issue.
However, the biochemistry of this finding determines that it may be useful in future, better constructed studies. Several variables would have to be teased out such as measurement of muscle strength standardization, a larger sample size, different dosage intervention arms, the supplementation of carnosine vs. the precursor BA and perhaps age stratification, ie. 65 – 85 and 85 and older and actual fall measurement rather than epidemiological extrapolation. This study warrants further, better designed, investigation.
About the author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
