RDH secured funding that assisted with this research and assisted in the development of the study, and in the development and writing of the draft manuscript. SRS (with YM) conceived the idea for the study, obtained funding, led the development of the study design, obtained ethical approval, and assisted in manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Backgrounds In the 20th century, the United States experienced a 57% increase in lifespan (from 49.2 to 76.5 years) [1]. selleck With continued growth per annum life expectancy is projected to rise to approximately 80

and 84 years of age in women and men, respectively, by the year 2050 [1]. It has been shown that there is a 30% loss of muscle tissue that occurs from the 5th to 8th decade of life [2]. This progressive age-related loss of muscle tissue, strength, and function is CHIR98014 supplier termed sarcopenia [3]. Sarcopenia is associated with a greater likelihood of disability, AZD2171 molecular weight functional impairment in activities of daily living [4, 5], increased incidence

of falls, insulin resistance [6], and hip fractures [7]. Each of these factors appears to contribute to a projected doubling of 65 year olds becoming limited to nursing homes by 2020 [1]. It is projected that as individuals aged 65 years or older increase from 13% to 20% of the population from 2000 to 2020, a paralleled 2 to 6 billion dollar increase in hip fracture expenditures is projected to occur [7]. Therefore, a better understanding of the factors that cause slow or possibly reverse sarcopenia is critical for improving the quality of life in elderly populations, as well as DOCK10 blunting the estimated increase in health care costs. Within the last decade, long-term essential amino acid (EAA) supplementation has been demonstrated to serve as a possible treatment and/or prevention for

the muscle loss associated with aging [8–13]. Leucine has been found to be a crucial component within the EAA complex to possibly attenuate the progression of muscle wasting [10, 12]. One of reasons that leucine may attenuate muscle wasting comes from its conversion to beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) [14]. However, only 5% of leucine is metabolized into HMB [15]. Thus, an individual would need to consume 60 to 120 g of leucine in order to obtain the most frequently administered dosages (3 to 6 g, respectively) for this supplement in research studies. HMB has attenuated muscle wasting in numerous clinical situations including those involving cancer [16–19], human caloric restriction [20], and limb immobilization [21]. HMB also has been found to counter age-related losses in limb circumference [9], upper and lower body strength [8], and functionality in activities of daily living [9].