Within the MARK-AGE project, a population study (3337 subjects) was conducted to identify a set of biomarkers of ageing which, as a combination of parameters with appropriate weighting, would measure biological age better than any single marker. The MARK-AGE project involves 14 European countries and a total of 26 research centres. In such a study, standard operating procedures (SOPs) are an essential task, which are binding for all MARK-AGE Beneficiaries. The SOPs cover all aspects of subject's recruitment, collection, shipment and distribution of biological samples (blood and its components, buccal mucosa cells or BMC and urine) as well as the anthropometric measurements and questionnaires.
BackgroundAge-related muscle loss is characterised by a progressing decrease in muscle mass, strength and function. Besides resistance training and physical activity, appropriate nutrition that is rich in protein, especially branched-chain amino acids, is very important to support training effects and positively influence the protein synthesis to degradation ratio.AimThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week leucine-rich amino acid supplementation in combination with moderate training.MethodsForty-eight healthy subjects exercised for 30 min three times per week and received either a leucine-rich amino acid supplementation or a placebo. Before and after supplementation, volunteers performed an exhaustive eccentric exercise protocol. Maximal concentric strength, muscle soreness, creatine kinase (CK), type II collagen collagenase cleavage neoepitope (C2C), C propeptide of type II procollagen (CP2) and safety assessments were performed before exercise and after 3, 24, 48 and 72 hours.ResultsThe supplementation with leucine resulted in reduced loss of strength at 0 and 3 hours after downhill walking compared with the placebo (p=0.0439). The reduction of C2C/CP2 ratio deflection was significantly increased (p=0.038) due to leucine compared with the placebo. The same tendency could be observed for the recovery phase. No significant supplement effects for muscle soreness and CK could be observed.ConclusionThe principle findings show that leucine-rich amino acid supplementation can counteract the negative effects of eccentric exercise. The treatment resulted in a reduction of exercise-induced strength loss.
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