Research
Adherence
Exercise is an effective intervention for sarcopenia and frailty, improving muscle strength and function even in the elderly, whereas nutritional supplements alone do not increase muscle mass or strength.
For older adults losing muscle (sarcopenia), eating supplements is not enough. You must engage in strength training exercises to build muscle and improve function. Supplements work best when combined with exercise.
ModerateSupportsHIGH confidence
In a controlled clinical trial nutritional supplement in the aged increased body weight but not muscle mass or strength. The ability to increase intake voluntarily was greatest in those who received nutritional supplement and were subject to strength training exercise
Why this rating
Based on a cited RCT (Fiatarone et al.) and general consensus.
Source
Malnutrition, fatigue, frailty, vulnerability, sarcopenia and cachexia
Khursheed N. Jeejeebhoy · Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care · 2012
DOI 10.1097/mco.0b013e328352694f
narrative_reviewCited 228×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Nutritional support alone is ineffective for treating disease-induced cachexia because the primary driver is cytokine-mediated muscle catabolism and hypothalamic dysregulation, not simple energy deficit.Moderate
- Pure protein-energy malnutrition (starvation) responds dramatically to nutritional support, unlike cachexia, because the primary mechanism is an energy deficit rather than active catabolic signaling.Moderate
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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