Sarcopic obesity in the Elderly

The world population is aging, which increases the prevalence of physical limitation and chronic diseases. A major cause of these physical limitation and chronic diseases is a low muscle mass (sarcopenia) and/or a high fat mass (obesity). Coexistence of sarcopenia and obesity, called sarcopenic obesity, may act synergistically and maximizes their health threatening effects. Interventions that target both adipose tissue mass as well as skeletal muscle mass are increasingly important to counteract sarcopenic obesity. Important interventions are resistance exercise that may increase skeletal muscle mass and endurance exercise that may improve physical performance and reduce fatmass. A combination of both resistance and endurance exercise, that is, concurrent exercise, may be favorable to counteract sarcopenic obesity. Caloric restriction may be an interesting intervention to reduce fatmass and overall bodyweight. Special attention is needed, however, to maintain skeletal msucle mass during caloric restriction. An increase in dietary protein may attanuate the muscle mass loss associated with caloric restriction. Even better may be combining an concurrent exercise intervention along with ample protein intake during caloric restirction. This combination of both exercise and dietary protein may be an promising intervention to counteract sarcopenic obesity and to support healthy aging.