RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Next time you go shopping make sure that instead of protein powder or egg whites, you buy foods rich in vitamin C. A new study by the University of East Anglia has found that this vitamin can be key to keeping muscles strong after 50.
In the study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, researchers note that older adults who consume large amounts of vitamin C tend to have the strongest and healthiest skeletal muscle mass.
The loss of strength and muscle mass as we age is as common as grey hair and wrinkles. In some cases, this muscle loss can lead to medical conditions, some fragility, and a lower overall quality of life.
“As people age, they lose skeletal muscle mass and strength. People over 50 lose up to one percent of their skeletal muscle mass each year, and this loss is believed to affect over 50 million people worldwide,” explains the lead author, Ailsa Welch, in a statement quoted by Study Finds. “It’s a major problem because it can lead to fragility and other serious consequences, such as sarcopenia, physical disability, type 2 diabetes, reduced quality of life and death,” she adds.
“We know that vitamin C intake is related to muscle mass. It helps to defend the cells and tissues that form the body from potentially harmful substances in free radicals. These free radicals can contribute to muscle destruction, thereby accelerating the age-related decline,” she continues. “But so far, few studies have investigated the significance of vitamin C intake by the elderly. We wanted to find out if people who consume more vitamin C have more muscle mass than other people”.
And it really seems that vitamin C is the key to maintain muscle mass after 50. The study uses health data from 13,000 adults aged 42 to 82. The average vitamin C intake was assessed by means of a seven-day diary. Skeletal muscle mass was also estimated, as well as vitamin C levels in blood samples.