Supporting Age-Related Muscle Loss: Key Nutrients and Lifestyle Factors to Preserve Muscle Health as You Age

What You’ll Learn: In this blog, you’ll discover the nutrients that play a vital role in supporting age-related muscle loss, helping you maintain strength and vitality as you age. We will explore lifestyle factors that may significantly impact muscle preservation, including exercise routines and dietary choices. Additionally, you’ll gain insight into effective strategies to enhance your overall muscle health and improve your quality of life.^‡    

Why Muscle Health Matters More as You Age

As we get older, maintaining muscle isn’t just about appearance, it’s about independence, mobility and long-term health. Starting as early as your 30s, your body gradually begins to lose muscle mass. Age-related decline accelerates as we age, leading to reduced strength, slower metabolism and increased risk of falls and injury.^1‡

The good news? Age-related muscle loss is not inevitable. The right nutrition, supplementation and lifestyle habits combined with ongoing conversations with your healthcare professional can help you preserve and even build muscle at any age.^‡

Why Muscle Matters for Metabolism, Weight, and Blood Sugar

Muscle does a lot more than help you feel strong. It plays a major role in how your body uses energy. Muscle tissue is metabolically active, meaning it burns more calories at rest compared to fat. As muscle mass declines with age, your metabolic rate can slow, making it easier to gain weight and harder to maintain a healthy body composition.²

Muscle also acts like a “glucose sink,” helping pull sugar out of the bloodstream and use it for energy. This supports healthy blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, which are key factors of metabolic health like metabolizing glucose or insulin sufficiently? over time.³

In simple terms: maintaining muscle helps your body stay efficient, burning fuel better, managing weight more easily and keeping blood sugar in a healthy range as you age.

Key Nutrients That Support Muscle Preservation

1. Protein & Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)

Protein is the foundation of muscle health. When you eat protein, your body breaks it down into amino acids. These are the building blocks needed to repair and rebuild muscle tissue.

Essential amino acids (EAAs) are especially important because your body cannot produce them on its own. One amino acid in particular, leucine, plays a key role in triggering muscle protein synthesis (the process of building new muscle).⁴

Why EAAs matter:

• Supports muscle repair and growth^‡
• Helps maintain lean body mass^‡
• Helps preserve lean muscle as we age^‡

Tip: Aim to include high-quality protein (like eggs, fish, dairy or plant-based blends) at every meal.

2. Creatine

Creatine isn’t just for athletes, it’s one of the most well-researched nutrients for muscle health across all ages. It helps your muscles produce energy during high-intensity activity and supports strength and performance.‡ Research shows creatine may be especially beneficial for adults when combined with resistance training to support gains in muscle strength.⁵

Why it matters:

• Helps reduce recovery time^‡
• Supports quick conversion of ADP to ATP energy^‡
• Promotes growth factor signaling to support gains in muscle strength^‡
• Supports muscle strength, performance and recovery^‡

3. Collagen Peptides

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and plays an important role in supporting muscles, joints, connective tissue, and mobility as we age. While collagen is often associated with skin health, research suggests collagen peptides may also help support muscle strength and body composition when combined with exercise.^6‡

Because maintaining mobility and physical activity becomes increasingly important with age, supporting joint and muscle health together can help make staying active easier over time.

Why it matters:

• Supports healthy muscle composition^6‡
• Helps support mobility and physical function^7‡
• Supports connective tissue and joint health^8‡

4. Vitamin D

Vitamin D plays a crucial role in muscle function, strength and balance. Low levels are associated with muscle weakness, particularly in older adults.^9‡

Why it matters:

• Supports muscle contraction and coordination^‡
• Works synergistically with calcium for bone health^‡

5. Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3s (found in fish oil) are known for their antioxidant benefits, but they also support muscle health by enhancing the body’s response to protein intake and exercise.^10‡

Why it matters:

• Helps reduce oxidative stress^‡
• Promote cardiovascular, joint, skin and cognitive health^‡

Our O.N.E.^TM Omega is a powerful omega-3 fatty acid formula to promote joint health which may become increasingly supportive as we age.^‡

6. Magnesium

Magnesium plays a role in muscle contraction, energy production and enzymatic reactions responsible for protein synthesis. Many people don’t get enough of this important mineral, which may impact muscle performance and recovery.^11‡

Why it matters:

• Essential in the break down carbohydrates, amino acids, fats and other essential nutrients^‡
• Provides cellular energy and bone support^‡
• Plays a role in muscle contractions^‡

Lifestyle Habits That Help Preserve Muscle

Nutrition is only part of the equation. Your daily habits play a powerful role in maintaining muscle health.^‡

1. Strength Training Is Non-Negotiable

Resistance training (like lifting weights or using resistance bands) is the most effective way to build and maintain muscle at any age.

Even 2–3 sessions per week may significantly support improving strength, mobility and muscle mass.¹²

Think:

• Squats, lunges, push-ups
• Resistance bands or free weights
• Bodyweight exercises or swimming

2. Prioritize Daily Movement

You don’t have to live in the gym to support your muscles. Staying active throughout the day, like walking, stretching or taking the stairs when the option arises, helps maintain muscle function and prevents decline.

3. Eat Enough (and Consistently)

Undereating, especially protein, may run a little too close to muscle loss. As you age, your body becomes less efficient at using protein, meaning you may need more than you did when you were younger.²

Simple strategy:

• Include protein in every meal^‡
• Keep in mind, whole grains, beans, nuts and legumes have protein too^‡
• Avoid skipping meals if possible^‡
• Consider supplementation if intake is low^‡

4. Support Recovery

Muscle is built during recovery, not just during workouts. Sleep, hydration and proper nutrition are essential.

Aim for:

• 7–9 hours of sleep
• Adequate hydration
• Post-workout nutrition (protein + carbohydrates)

Putting It All Together

Preserving muscle as you age doesn’t require extreme changes, it requires consistent, intentional ones.

Your muscle health checklist:

• Prioritize protein and essential amino acids
• Consider targeted supplements like Creatine
• Strength train regularly
• Stay active daily
• Support recovery with sleep and nutrition

When combined, these strategies create a powerful foundation for maintaining strength, independence and vitality as you age.

Aging is a natural part of life, but losing muscle doesn’t have to be. By fueling your body with the right nutrients and committing to supportive lifestyle habits, you can help your body stay stronger, more mobile and energized for years to come.^‡

Think of muscle as an investment in your future self. The choices you make today will shape how you move, feel and live tomorrow.

1. Cruz-Jentoft AJ, et al. Sarcopenia: revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis. Age Ageing. 2019;48(1):16-31.
2. Wolfe RR.. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;84(3):475-482.
3. DeFronzo RA, Tripathy D. Diabetes Care. 2009;32(Suppl 2):S157-S163.
4. Wolfe RR. The role of dietary protein in optimizing muscle mass, function and health outcomes in older individuals. Br J Nutr. 2012;108(S2):S88-S93.
5. Chilibeck PD, et al. Effect of creatine supplementation during resistance training on lean tissue mass and muscular strength in older adults. Open Access J Sports Med. 2017;8:213-226.
6. Zdzieblik D, Oesser S, Baumstark MW, Gollhofer A, König D. Collagen peptide supplementation in combination with resistance training improves body composition and increases muscle strength in elderly sarcopenic men: a randomized controlled trial. Br J Nutr. 2015;114(8):1237-1245.
7. Clark KL, Sebastianelli W, Flechsenhar KR, et al. 24-Week study on the use of collagen hydrolysate as a dietary supplement in athletes with activity-related joint pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008;24(5):1485-1496.
8. Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross ML, Wang B, Baar K. Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;105(1):136-143.3. Collagen Peptides
9. Stockton KA, et al. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Osteoporos Int. 2011;22(3):859-871.
10. Smith GI, et al. Fish oil–derived n–3 PUFA therapy increases muscle mass and function in healthy older adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102(1):115-122.
11. Volpe SL. Magnesium and the athlete. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2015;14(4):279-283.
12. Peterson MD, et al. Resistance exercise for muscular strength in older adults: a meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. 2010;9(3):226-237.