ABSTRACT
Sarcopenia represents perhaps one of the worst consequences of aging and is the starting point of a series of physical and functional changes that profoundly affect health and the quality of life. Sarcopenia is defined as loss of mass and function of skeletal muscle. Sarcopenic muscle is less responsive to body demands in everyday life. Falls, fractures, and associated acute and chronic complications may deeply affect health and life quality. Sarcopenia accelerates markedly in the last decades of life (i.e., beyond 60 years) and represents the endpoint of a series of pathophysiological changes develop with aging. The loss of skeletal muscle mass in the net results of opposite changes in protein synthesis and degradation. However, a decreased protein synthesis appears to be the key factor leading to sarcopenia. Protein synthesis in the muscle of the elderly responds less efficiently to nutrition, exercise, and anabolic hormones (insulin), thus leading to an accelerated loss of both mass and function. Modern nutrition strategies, strictly combined with physical exercise, are promising in delaying the otherwise untoward consequences of sarcopenia and may thus prevent the decrease of physical function and activity of the elderly while maintaining an acceptable quality of life.
