The Effects of Dietary Omega-3s on Muscle Composition and Quality in Older Adults

Abstract

This review will focus on findings from the few studies performed to date in humans to examine changes in muscle protein turnover, lean or muscle mass and physical function following fish oil-derived omega-3 fatty acid treatment. Although considerable gaps in our current knowledge exist, hypertrophic responses (e.g., improvements in the rate of muscle protein synthesis and mTOR signaling during increased amino acid availability and an increase in muscle volume) have been reported in older adults following prolonged (8 to 24 weeks) of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation. There is also accumulating evidence that increased omega-3 fatty acid levels in red blood cells are positively related to strength and measures of physical function. As a result, increased omega-3 fatty acid consumption may prove to be a promising low-cost dietary approach to attenuate or prevent aging associated declines in muscle mass and function.

A Five-Ingredient Nutritional Supplement and Home-Based Resistance Exercise Improve Lean Mass and Strength in Free-Living Elderly

“…The same logic applies to MIS vs. single-nutrient supplementation as the former theoretically stimulates several processes simultaneously, thus 'circumventing' the main limitation of using nutritional monotherapies, such as whey or BCAAs, e.g., anabolic resistance with aging. Common nutrients with documented SM benefits in MIS include whey [53,69,70], vitamin D [53,61,62,69,70], polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs; EPA and DHA [53,63,64,69,70]), and creatine [53,[65][66][67][68][69][70]. As previously demonstrated by Bell et al, this blend of nutrients may be safely combined to potentiate SM growth independently or in conjunction with supervised RE/HIIT [53].…”

“…Beyond protein supplementation, vitamin D [ 61 , 62 ], polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs; EPA and DHA [ 63 , 64 ]), and creatine [ 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ] have documented SM benefits and may be safely combined with exercise therapy in older adults. The efficacy of protein-based MIS in older adults was recently demonstrated by Bell et al, who found that whey protein, creatine, EPA/DHA, and vitamin D enhanced lean mass, strength, cognition, n-3 index, and lowered markers of inflammation in older males [ 53 , 69 , 70 ].…”

The Role of Inflammation in Age-Related Sarcopenia

“…A possible link can be found with an increased insulin sensitivity, as it was shown that PUFA supplementation leads to increased phosphorylation of the insulin receptor and its downstream signaling (Kamolrat and Gray, 2013 ; Wei et al, 2013 ). Furthermore, enhanced insulin signaling induces vasodilation, which increases amino acid availability (Smith, 2016 ).…”

The Relationship Between Omega-3, Omega-6 and Total Polyunsaturated Fat and Musculoskeletal Health and Functional Status in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of RCTs

“…Previous systematic reviews evaluating the effects of omega-3, omega-6 or total PUFA on skeletal muscle and bone health, sarcopenia or fracture risk have been limited to specific PUFAs (usually omega-3) [19][20][21][22], specific population subgroups (e.g. post-menopausal women) [19] or specific outcomes (e.g.…”