A Narrative Review of the Evidence Supporting Nutritional Supplementation for Better Muscle Health in Older Adults

Sarcopenia is characterised by progressive and generalised decline in muscle strength, function, and muscle mass. Now recognised as a muscle disease, it is highly prevalent in older adults, with estimates of up to 30% in some populations. Sarcopenia has a complex multifactorial aetiology, including cellular and molecular changes, chronic disease, lower physical activity as well as nutritional deficiency. Sarcopenia is associated with a range of adverse physical and metabolic outcomes leading to disability, morbidity, impaired quality of life and mortality. Given the demographic shifts in the population, there is an urgent need to improve skeletal muscle health in older adults. Unfortunately, there are no pharmacologic therapies suitable for widespread use currently. In this short review, we discuss the existing literature reporting the benefits of various options for nutritional supplementation in older sarcopenic participants or healthy older adults. Several systematic reviews have been undertaken on this topic with some key findings. In general, supplementation is more effective in combination with resistance exercise. The research literature supports protein and vitamin D supplementation in individuals who are insufficient. There is also evidence in support of supplementation with creatine, leucine with vitamin D, whey supplements and combinations of creatine, whey and leucine. Probiotics may also be beneficial. Further well conducted and standardised research trials are required.