Soy Protein And Sarcopenia
December 11, 2018 Food & Lifestyle 1 Comments

DuPont' Bloggers Meet

Last week, I attended a bloggers meet by DuPont Nutrition and Health in Sahara Star, Mumbai. Dupont is a world leader in developing innovative soy-based ingredients that enable nutritious and great-tasting food and beverage products.

Needless to say, the meet was on highlighting Soy as a supreme plant-based protein and its health benefits in our lives.

It was a well-organized meet up where representatives of Du Pont along with a Dietician came for a tete a tete with bloggers, entailing the evidence study based Soy-way of life and how DuPont's rigorous quality standards for raw materials, manufacturing and inventory control ensure their soy protein products deliver the highest levels of quality, safety, and consistency.

[You may also like to read my post on Soy Protein for Vegan on my Lifestyle Blog]

Being a vegetarian, of late I have been consuming quite a portion of Soybadi Nutrela [an extruded form of textured Soy] and periodical cooking in Soy oil.

However, the biggest takeaway from this meet was not the mere benefit of soy protein or the controversy surrounding it but Sarcopenia.

You may wonder what is Sarcopenia? And how does Soy protein links with it? Lets quickly read more on this.

Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass (0.5–1% loss per year after the age of 50), quality, and strength associated with aging. Sarcopenia is a component of the frailty syndrome, which is a condition associated with aging and causes a decline in the health of the elderlies.

If you have noticed, a lot of our elders, including grandparents and parents suddenly start to lose weight and develop a very fragile frame. Well, Sarcopenia could be it. I met quite an elder people who have suddenly lost a lot of body mass and weight, undeliberately, looking akin to wrinkled skeletons. Well, that is alarming. Sarconia is a bad news for elders but maybe, soy protein is a good news when it comes to preventing/coping sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia and Soy Proteins

DuPont Nutrition & Health (Madison, WI) has shared new study results suggesting a blend of whey and soy proteins may help curb key signs of muscle loss in older men.

According to team DuPont, Soy Protein can help elders cope with Sarcopenia. And that is a good news esp for senior citizens who are lactose intolerant or are primarily vegetarian.

To support this, let me quote an observation suggested by Nutritional Outlook-

Writing in The Journal of Nutrition, researchers studied men aged 55–75 who were randomized in a double-blind, controlled trial to consume either 30 grams of whey protein isolate or 30 grams of a blend containing 25% DuPont Danisco SUPRO soy protein, 25% whey, and 50% casein. All participants performed leg extension exercises one hour before supplementation, which consisted of eight sets of 10 repetitions at 70% one-repetition maximum power.

So good news for elders who fear or are battling sarcopenia. Esp the ones who are vegetarians and are vegans 'forced vegan due to lactose intolerant syndrome.

“Sarcopenia is estimated to affect 30 percent of individuals over 60 years of age and more than 50 percent of people over 80 years. It has significant quality of life consequences for aging individuals, and contributes substantially to direct healthcare costs,” said Jean Heggie, strategic marketing lead, DuPont Nutrition & Health.

I was very delighted to learn this and could not resist myself from immediately tweeting.

Follow @numerounity on Twitter

Do you know that- Proteins help in healthy mass of weight as we age. #proteinhealth #soyisgood #soybetterforyou
— Ekta Khetan (@NumeroUnity) December 1, 2018

Right Protein can help you cope with #sarcopenia Consult your dietician today#proteinhealth #soyisgood #soybetterforyou
— Ekta Khetan (@NumeroUnity) December 1, 2018

Numerounity Takeaway

Resistance Training and Dietary intervention, with an adequate focus on high-quality protein is a good news to Battle Sarcopenia.

While it is an emerging study but it needs to be equated well with the overall health benefits of consuming Soy Protein wrt its effect on heart, Liver and Kidney health. I suggest speaking with a good nutritionist on consumption of Soy protein in your diet vis a vie usage of DuPont Danisco SUPRO may be a good step to start with.

Let me know if you know of any such case and have tried soy protein. Or you want to share your Sarcopenia story. If you are a nutritionist, you are most welcome to guest blog on this subject.

Stay United with Good health,
Ekta Khetan

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