Taking supplements help fill voids in nutrients your body needs that you are not getting through your daily caloric intake. Supplementing the body helps optimize lean tissue development, elevate metabolism and maximize fat loss, maximize recovery time and minimize muscle soreness, bolster immune function and help prevent bone loss and osteoporosis. One of the top supplements we need to consider as we get older is HMB or beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate. It’s a metabolite of the branched chain amino acid leucine, and some scientists believe that HMB may be the active factor involved in leucine’s promotion of increased muscle protein synthesis. However, existing studies show that HMB exerts a permissive effect on this process through inhibiting excessive muscle protein breakdown during exercise rather than directly increasing muscle protein synthesis after exercise.

Studies show an increase in lean body mass in young men who engage in regular weight-training show that a three gram daily dose of HMB. Young people, however, make muscle gains more rapidly compared to older people for various reasons. Would taking extra HMB supplements also aid muscle-building effects in older people? Scientists from Wichita State University in Kansas explored this aspect of HMB usage, reporting their results at the Experimental Biology meeting in 1998. Study subjects consisted of 15 men and women, averaging 70 years old, participating in an exercise program five days a week. They walked three days and engaged in strength training two days a week for 8 weeks during the study. The study subject was divided into two groups, with one group taking three grams of HMB daily, and the other a placebo. Body composition test included both skin fold and CT scan of the thighs and upper arms.

After 8 weeks, subjects in both the placebo and the HMB group showed increased muscle mass, with the HMB group showing a slightly greater muscle gain. The reduction in body fat in the HMB group, however, was far more significant compared to those taking the placebo. At the end of the 8-week study, those taking the HMB showed greater muscle gains and more loss of body fat compared to the placebo group, leading to the conclusion that, “HMB may positively enhance the effects of modest exercise on body composition in older adults.”

So, for those of you who are older, consider using HMB to supplement your weight training. As the findings from the study above suggests, doing so may serve to promote and support protective muscle gain. If I can be of any assistance, please feel free to contact me at 859-221-4479 or supernat_ us@yahoo.com.

Yours in Health,

Willie B. Ray