Dr's Casebook: Balance your protein intake to maintain muscle bulk

Dr Keith Souter writes: He emigrated to practice medicine in Australia, but we meet up at various reunions.

At this last meeting we inevitably talked about past rounds of golf when we could hit the ball a respectable distance, before age started to afflict us.

“Sadly, our muscles are just withering away, mate,” he said to me.

It is true, muscles do weaken and shrink as you age. The medical name for this age-related muscle loss is sarcopenia. It actually starts from about the age of 30, and you begin to lose as much as five per cent per decade. Most men will lose about 30 per cent of their muscle mass during their lifetimes.

You can slow that decline by regular exercise and eating a good wholesome diet. Protein builds muscle and you should make sure that you take enough into your system. When you take it is important.

Research from the University of Texas looked at how people take in their protein. They worked out that the daily intake of protein for most adults was 90 grams. Their study used 90 gram protein diets in order to assess the best diet balance to maintain muscle bulk.

They divided a large group of adults and gave them one of two diets. The first had 30 grams of protein at each of their three daily meals. The other group had ten grams at breakfast, 15 grams at lunch and 65 grams at dinner.

They found muscle protein synthesis was 25 per cent higher in the balanced group. They also tended to be slimmer, but with better muscle bulk.

The problem about taking the larger amount at the end of the day is that the excess amount is oxidized and ends up as excess glucose or fat, which will tend to put on weight, as fat not muscle.

The researchers suggest that getting that breakfast amount of protein up, by eating something like an egg, a sausage, some yoghurt or having a glass of milk, and also reducing the evening meal amount of protein will help maintain muscle bulk and help weight control. But don’t forget to get your exercise, too.