Boomers: Why getting buff becomes tough

SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says age-related muscle loss is caused by free radical damage to muscle cell mitochondria.

The mitochondria supply the cell with chemical energy and are involved in other important processes.

Holly Van Remmen of the Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio says this discovery, published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal, may make it possible for baby boomers to attack the atrophy process with drug therapies.

"Age-related muscle atrophy in skeletal muscle is inevitable. However, we know it can be slowed down or delayed," Van Remmen says in a statement. "Our goal is to increase our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying sarcopenia -- the loss of muscle mass and strength that occurs with aging -- to gain insight that will help us to discover therapeutic interventions to slow or limit this process."

Van Remmen and colleagues used mice that were genetically manipulated to prevent them from having a protective anti-oxidant and as a result had very high levels of free radicals. These mice lose muscle mass and function at a much faster rate than normal mice.