I learnt a lessons recently in how fragile our health and condition can be

 

I consider myself to be a fit 60+ year old working in my clinic 5 days per week.

Recent events have shown me how fragile our health can be.

I have experienced first hand how easy it is to lose condition and muscle very quickly post injury and illness.

 

We have known for many years now that the body struggles to repair without supply of adequate nutritional resources. But when I was hospitalized recently with an infected hip joint, I rapidly lost 4 kg of lean muscle not just local to my hip but globally throughout my body. How can this happen so fast?

Of course, I have been aware of the need to eat well even when eating hospital food. I religiously took my vitamins, minerals, and digestive support so why did I lose so much condition so fast?

The most obvious reason is inactivity but despite the fact I was hopping around on crutches on my good leg and using my arms and upper body muscles every day, I still lost muscle everywhere.

The Answer is …

Absorption, or lack thereof.

I was on intravenous antibiotics for the infection in my hip and they affected my ability to absorb nutrients from my food and supplements. You would think that intravenous bypasses digestion and shouldn’t upset the gut but apparently, they do have a whole-body effect. So basically, I was in a state of malabsorption and was eating my muscles from the inside to provide my immune system with protein to make immune cells to fight the infection.

There is a warming here…

Don’t think you are 10 feet tall and bullet proof. This form of hidden cannibalism is not uncommon amongst Australians making them sick and depressed.

The idea of eating human flesh is repugnant to most people in the Western world, yet there is a silent form of ‘cannibalism’ literally eating away inside more than 60% of Australians.

Whilst many believe that ‘muscle thinning’ is a natural part of ageing, with a progressive loss of muscle occuring from age 40 and 50% muscle loss by age 75, the reality is that younger Australians are losing their muscles because protein starved bodies are literally eating themselves from the inside.

To think that Australian bodies are protein starved seems ludicrous given the abundance of beef, lamb and chicken on offer in every supermarket, yet most people as they age are not either consuming the amount of protein they require or not absorbing enough to stop the body literally eating its own muscle mass to survive.

Our bodies turnover 300mg of protein each day to provide amino acids for brain function, happy brain chemicals, good immune health, rebuilding bone, muscle and ligaments, as well as making enzymes for digestion, and to transport essential nutrients in the blood. There is a continuous exchange between the body, muscle and bone and protein is at the heart of this exchange.

 

Why do we start to have trouble absorbing protein and essential nutrients as we age?

There is a natural decline in the ability to make stomach acid after the age of 40 but we need adequate levels of stomach acid to absorb protein, calcium for bones, magnesium for energy and the brain, zinc for 400+ enzymes in our body including protein synthesis and bone health, iron for energy in the cells and vitamin B12 for our brain, quality sleep and energy.

Unless you aid primary digestion in the stomach as you age you will gradually lose lean muscle and condition over time.

Sadly, another causal factor is high carb diets that inhibit gastrin, the hormone that stimulates the production of stomach acid. Protein and the essential nutrients mentioned above have become a casualty, and as a nation we are getting fatter and sicker. As a physiotherapist and nutritionist, I see this all the time.

Thirdly, ant-acid medications used to treat reflux inhibit essential stomach acid. And experts agree with me. According to a report in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Read Here https://consultadigestivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ppi-long-term-side-effects.pdf), these ant-acid medications are over prescribed and long-term use inhibits absorption of protein, as well as calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron and vitamin B12.

Another retrospective study of over 750,000 veterans showed increased mortality of 25% for those who had taken ant-acid medication over a number of years.

These drugs inhibit production of stomach acid essential for primary digestion and have been associated with an increased risk of pneumonia, acute kidney infections, osteoporosis and bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine.

Your ability to absorb essential nutrients can make the difference between recovering from a virus quickly or ending up with post viral fatigue.

Symptoms of the body eating itself due to not enough protein are widespread

• Muscle weakness, aches and pains
• Lack luster energy levels
• Susceptibility to colds and flu
• Depression
• Brain Fog
• Bone thinning, osteoporosis… and more

Usually when people experience these symptoms, they go to the doctor for anti-depressants to help them feel better – medications that try to maintain the last of the ‘happy’ brain chemicals, but they don’t work if there’s limited protein to make that ‘happy’ brain chemical in the first place! No wonder they don’t feel any better.

To recover our brain clarity and energy we need to eat and absorb a minimum of 55 grams of protein for women and 80-90 grams for men to balance the daily turnover. When you consider a piece of steak the size of your palm only contains 20gms of protein, you can see how so many may be lacking.

The good news is a loss of muscle bulk and strength is reversible, and it’s easy to stop the body eating itself. Understanding and improving protein content in the diet and adding digestive support can slow muscle wasting and often rebuild muscle lost.

Digestive support may include Betain HCL to replace stomach acid, digestive enzymes and bile salts for fat absorption.

In my situation, once I got out of hospital I recognised what was happening and supplemented my diet with Free Form Amino acids in powder form, the breakdown product of protein that bypasses normal digestion. Two months on I am finally starting to see my muscles come back!

“The improvement in how a person feels can happen as quickly as a few days when they start eating the right amount of protein and absorbing well– and why wouldn’t’ they feel better – their body has stopped eating itself!”  

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