Research
Hormonal
The mechanism for higher basal MPS in older women involves lower phosphorylation of eEF2Thr56, which deactivates the inhibition of protein elongation.
This is a basic science finding. It explains that women's muscles are biologically set up to build protein more efficiently at rest due to less inhibition of the protein-building machinery (eEF2).
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The greater basal rate of mixed MPS in older women was probably mediated by... muscle of older women had a 40% smaller degree of phosphorylation of eEF2Thr56, a molecule regulating elongation of nascent protein chains which is deactivated by phosphorylation
Why this rating
Direct measurement of phosphorylation states via Western blot.
Source
Differences in Muscle Protein Synthesis and Anabolic Signaling in the Postabsorptive State and in Response to Food in 65–80 Year Old Men and Women
Gordon I. Smith et al. · PLoS ONE · 2008
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0001875
mechanism_only · n=29Cited 168×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Older women (65-80 years) exhibit a ~30% greater basal muscle protein synthesis (MPS) rate than older men, which likely contributes to slower age-related muscle loss in women.Good
- Older women exhibit anabolic resistance to feeding, where muscle protein synthesis (MPS) does not increase in response to a protein-containing meal, unlike older men who show a significant increase.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →