ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides the understanding of sarcopenia in the elderly and the link with an extreme condition resulting in both dramatic loss of muscle mass and muscle strength as cachexia. It presents the role of imaging techniques in the diagnosis of sarcopenia. The book deals with the pathways of protein degradation such as ubiquitin–proteasome and lysosome-autophagy. It describes the role of oxidative stress in sarcopenia and also deals with the effect of nutrition on muscle protein turnover during sarcopenia. The book explains muscle mitochondrial turnover and sarcopenia. It also provides a good explanation of the decline in whole muscle function with aging, in particular of the alterations in the contractile properties of single skeletal muscle fibers. It also explains that sarcopenia and obesity are two conditions that, if combined, cause serious health problems in older adults.