Fix your Gut for Healthy Muscles

Key insights:

Muscle plays a critical role in healthy aging and disease prevention.

The gut-muscle axis describes the intricate relationship between the gut microbiome and skeletal muscle.

Food can support a healthy intestinal barrier and diverse microbiome, which can influence muscle growth and maintenance.

Strong muscles start in the stomach

Gut health goes beyond digestion and ‘beating the bloat.’ The gut microbiome impacts your immune system, skin, mental health, and even the progression of certain cancers. But one thing I had never heard of is its influence on muscles.

Mounting evidence suggests that the gut microbiome influences muscle health, which means it can contribute to sarcopenia, which describes age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, and other conditions that reduce health span.

How does muscle impact aging?

Muscles are primarily meant for moving. This fundamentally keeps us alive. Beyond this, they influence other aspects of aging.

Metabolism: Muscle acts like a “sink🚰” that gets rid of excess glucose, which can improve blood sugar regulation and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart conditions, says Andrew R. Jagim, PhD, director of sports medicine research at Mayo Clinic, in an article with Mayo Clinic. 

Bone loss, sarcopenia, and frailty 🦴: Muscle protects your bones and prevents sarcopenia. In different words, sarcopenia happens when both your muscle fibers shrink and you have less of them. This increases risk of frailty, leading to falls, fractures, and more serious conditions, writes Mayo Clinic.

Mortality risk: Muscle is associated with lower risk of death. Period. Specifically, having greater muscle mass (quality) is linked to longer lifespan, and better health during those additional years.🪫

Aging and the gut microbiome

Aging can disrupt the integrity of the gut microbiome, according to a paper published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 🦠 

Age-related gut microbiome changes can include:

• Slower intestinal motility (how food and waste moves through the GI tract)

• Dietary changes

• Structural shift of the GI tract 🏛️

• Lower gut immunity

In an unproductive cycle, the dysfunctional microbiome can then exacerbate aging, largely because it influences—and is influenced by—the immune system.

Experts believe that 90% of the immune system is housed in the gut. When you pair an aging gut with an aging immune system, it breeds an environment where pathogenic bacteria can thrive, microbial diversity decreases, and chronic inflammation can occur.

The gut-muscle axis

So if gut health and muscles independently impact aging, do they affect one another? You bet. 🪢 This relationship is known as the gut-muscle axis. 

First, the gut microbiome might play a key role in maintaining muscle by way of the mitochondria, according to research in Ageing Research Reviews (ARR). Mitochondria are the part of your cells that convert nutrients into energy, which the cells need to grow and survive.

Essentially, the gut microbiome has ‘crosstalk’ with mitochondria and influences how efficiently they can produce energy for cells (energy metabolism). This also plays a part in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

• 💲 The ROI on ROS is low. ROS is a natural byproduct of energy metabolism, and it causes low-grade inflammation in excess amounts. ROS is closely connected with aging and the development of sarcopenia.

Age-related changes to the microbiome (i.e., less diversity) can be problematic because they decrease mitochondrial efficiency, increase ROS production, and lead to chronic inflammation. This increases the risk of sarcopenia, frailty, metabolic conditions, and other serious age-related diseases.

Poor protein digestion

🍗 Poor gut health can also impair protein digestion and absorption, which may lead to sarcopenia, according to research highlighted in Nutrients. If protein is not digested properly, the body cannot repair/build new muscle tissue (this process is called muscle protein synthesis).

Slow muscle protein synthesis is actually considered to be primary cause of age-related muscle loss, according to ARR.

Likewise, mitochondria can also exert some influence over the gut microbiome.

Mitochondria affect:

• Gut microbiome diversity

• Intestinal barrier function

• Immune function

Damaged mitochondria can create a weak intestinal barrier, which makes it easier for bacteria, pathogens, or other substances to enter the gut and create an unhappy microbiome that can reduce skeletal muscle mass, strength, and quality…so the cycle continues.

Protect the gut, protect the muscles

If the microbiome can increase the risk of sarcopenia and age-related disease, then it also must be able to reduce the risk! 🥳 Certain foods, compounds, and molecules are proven to support gut health—and, in turn, muscle health (muscle mass, strength, or both).

🥣 Probiotics: Probiotics with lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacterium can prevent sarcopenia in mice, according to an analysis of yogurt. Probiotics may increase muscle mass and strength in humans too. Clostridium bacteria show promise in supporting the growth of beneficial gut bugs.

• Fermented dairy (yogurt, kefir), sauerkraut, kimchi, natto

🍎 Prebiotics: Prebiotics are food for probiotics, and some experts say they are even more important for gut health. In the context of muscle, prebiotics have demonstrated the ability to increase muscle strength, but they did not significantly impact muscle mass, according to analysis.

• Vegetables (onion, garlic, asparagus), fruit (apple, avocado), unrefined whole grains (oats, barley), legumes (lentils, chickpeas, flaxseed)

🫘 Dietary protein: Supports gut health and muscle growth/maintenance. The body uses protein to build muscle. Any leftover feeds bacteria in the colon, which break it down for energy.

Plant-based proteins are quality sources because they are also high-fiber, and fermented dairy (i.e., yogurt) is rich in both protein and probiotics.

• Poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, tofu, yogurt

🫚 Polyphenols: Resveratrol (famously high in red wine) and curcumin (the bioactive compound in turmeric) may improve intestinal barrier function, reduce inflammation, and prevent tissue damage that causes microbiome aging.

• Berries, coffee, olive oil (contains antioxidant oleuropein), turmeric, cloves

Put it all together

A healthy microbiome can have referred benefits throughout the entire body. We can add muscles to the ever-expanding list of things that are influenced by our gut.

Continue the conversation

HAPPY GUT: A new clinical trial shows that probiotics reverse negative mood.

CANCER MICROBIOME: How the microbiome influences cancer progression.

ALMOND JOY: Snacking on almonds boosts healthy microbial populations and reduces inflammation.

Until next time,

Erin

_{The information provided about wellness items and beverages is for general informational and educational purposes only. We are not licensed medical professionals, and the content here should not be considered medical advice. Drug interactions may occur, so talk to a doctor before trying any of these suggestions.}

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