Of all of the miraculous results skilled upon restoring the gastrointestinal (GI) microbe misplaced by almost all of us, Lactobacillus reuteri, I’ve not mentioned the rise in muscle mass that happens with re-implantation of this microbe, an impact mediated by the enhance within the hormone, oxytocin.
We see this in animal experiments through which aged mice with marked muscle atrophy—lack of muscle cells, shrunken muscle cells—have muscle restored to that approximating youthful mice, reversing the sarcopenia (lack of muscle mass) of growing older. We noticed this in our human scientific trial through which contributors skilled a whole shift in physique composition with lack of stomach fats however enhance in muscle mass. We additionally see this, although variably, in our actual world L. reuteri yogurt expertise. (Why is the response variable? Does full impact require microbial species to “collaborate” with L. reuteri? Variation within the oxytocin receptor? That is one thing I’d wish to discover in future animal and human experiments we’ll conduct.)
Elabd 2014. On the left is a cross-section of muscle from an aged mouse. On the precise is a cross-section of muscle in an aged mouse given supplemental oxytocin with apparent restoration of plump full-volume muscle cells indistinguishable from that of a younger mouse.
I can’t stress how essential it’s to keep up youthful muscle mass. We lose roughly 35% of muscle as we age. You solely want go to your nearest assisted dwelling facility to see the end-result: atrophied legs and arms, problem standing up straight and strolling, incapacity to climb stairs, frailty, susceptibility to falls and fractures, metabolic deterioration, lack of hormonal well being—in a phrase, unhealthy growing older accompanied by reliance on canes, walkers, scooters, wheelchairs and elevated dependence on prescribed drugs to compensate for deteriorating well being. Can there be a lot satisfaction upon reaching, say, age 80 however depending on assist to get off the bed, use the bathroom, a walker to get to the breakfast room, prescribed drugs (e.g., metformin for blood sugar, beta blockers or ACE inhibitors for hypertension, Vascepa for top triglycerides, Namenda for cognitive decline, and all the opposite terrible merchandise that symbolize little greater than Band-Aids for growing older)?
Practically all standard strategies for shedding weight make the scenario worse. In the event you shed some pounds by lowering energy, or through pharmaceuticals together with the absurd craze over GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro, or bariatric procedures like lap-band or gastric bypass, about 25-40% of weight reduction is muscle loss. In the event you misplaced, say, 50 kilos, you have got misplaced about 17-20 kilos of muscle, a large loss answerable for a serious downturn in general well being. And, when (not if, as weight regain is the rule with all of those strategies) you regain the misplaced weight, most of it’s fats, not muscle and you might be unhealthier than you had been at the beginning. Simply watch as this craze over GLP-1 agonists and bariatric procedures proceeds and other people understand that they’ve been hoodwinked for the monetary good thing about the healthcare system.
I skilled the restoration of youthful muscle personally once I first restored L. reuteri through my distinctive technique of extended fermentation to generate lots of of billions of bacterial counts. Monitoring physique composition through a bioimpedance scale, I gained 13 kilos over the primary three weeks of consumption accompanied by a discount in waist circumference. I’m not notably keen on going to the gymnasium, so I’m going about as soon as per week for 15-20 minutes to make use of the load machines. I sometimes dealt with weights like 130 kilos in a lat pulldown for 10 repetitions. This promptly elevated to 200 kilos for 10 repetitions, weight I had final dealt with 40+ years earlier at age 19. My suspicion is that the enhance in oxytocin skilled with restoration of L. reuteri means you expertise restoration of muscle you had while you had been youthful—should you had been extra closely muscled throughout your youthful years, you might be more likely to regain extra muscle than different folks. In the event you had been an athlete, for example, and loved higher power and muscle mass at age 18 or 20, you might be more likely to expertise a bigger impact than different folks. I noticed this play out, for example, in a scientist and former particular forces soldier who I hadn’t seen in just a few years. At age 67, he was fairly closely muscled, definitely greater than you’d count on for somebody his age. I requested if he’d been understanding and he informed me that he was incapable of power coaching since he broken each shoulders years earlier, not even able to doing a single pushup, although he regarded like he spent hours every week on the gymnasium. However he was engaged within the L. reuteri yogurt and its oxytocin enhance.
Mix the restoration of L. reuteri with collagen peptides that you simply had been alleged to ingest by consuming organs and boiling the carcass of animals and you’ve got a spectacularly efficient technique of restoring youthful physique composition.