Distribution of daily protein intake and appendicular skeletal muscle mass in healthy free-living Chinese older adults

Xiaoyun Song; Huijun Wang; Chang Su; Mei Zhang; Lei Zhang; Jun Meng; Bing Zhang

doi:10.1007/s00394-024-03364-4

Distribution of daily protein intake and appendicular skeletal muscle mass in healthy free-living Chinese older adults

Eur J Nutr. 2024 Apr 2. doi: 10.1007/s00394-024-03364-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiaoyun Song¹, Huijun Wang², Chang Su², Mei Zhang¹, Lei Zhang¹, Jun Meng¹, Bing Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Dalian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dalian, 116035, China.
² National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 100050, China.
³ National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 100050, China. zhangbing@chinacdc.cn.

PMID: 38563983
DOI: 10.1007/s00394-024-03364-4

Abstract

Aims: Evidence regarding impact of protein intake distribution on skeletal muscle mass in older adults is limited and inconsistent. This study aims to investigate the relationship of evenness of dietary protein distribution and number of meals exceeding a threshold with appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) in healthy and free-living Chinese older adults.

Methods: Repeated measured data of 5689 adult participants aged ≥ 60 years from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 2015 and 2018 waves were analyzed. Mixed-effects linear regression model was performed to examine the relationship between coefficient of variance (CV) of protein intake across meals, number of meals ≥ 0.4 g protein/kg BW and ASM, respectively. Analyses were conducted separately for male and female.

Results: The average CV of protein intake in each wave was in the range of 0.34-0.35. More than 40% male and female participants in each wave had no meal reaching 0.4 g protein/kg BW. Female participants in the highest quartile of protein intake CV had significantly lower ASM (β = -0.18, 95%CI = -0.32, -0.04) compared with those in the lowest quartile, after adjustment for multiple confounders. Significant negative trends were observed across dietary protein CV quartiles with ASM both in male (P trend = 0.043) and female (P trend = 0.007). Significant positive association between number of meals exceeding 0.4 g protein /kg BW and relative ASM were observed in females (2 meals vs. 0 meal: β = 0.003, 95%CI = 0.0007,0.006;≥3 meals vs. 0 meal: β = 0.008, 95%CI = 0.003,0.013), after adjusting for multiple covariates.

Conclusions: A more even-distributed protein intake pattern and more meals reaching protein intake threshold were respectively associated with higher appendicular skeletal muscle mass in healthy and free-living older Chinese adults. Prospective studies and intervention trials are needed to confirm these cross-sectional findings.

Keywords: Appendicular skeletal muscle mass; Dietary protein; Older adults; Protein distribution.

Abstract

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