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IHB: Muscle: Key to healthy aging and longevity


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Posted: 10/24/2025 9:03:00 AM
Edited: 10/26/2025 7:23:57 PM (1)

Originally posted by Dr. Davis on 2025-10-24 on the Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog (⇩cite). | PCM forum 🛈Index of Infinite Health Blog articles PCM,IHB,frailty,grip,microbiota,muscles,mass,opiates,probiotics,reuteri,sarcopenia,sibo,super,body,gut


Muscle: Key to healthy aging and longevity

photo: hand dynomometer

Note: I will be appearing LIVE on YouTube on Monday, November 10th to preview my new book, Super Body, in which I introduce concepts that are, yes, contrary to prevailing wisdom, but target all the problems associated with conventional notions of weight loss, healthy aging, and longevity; stay tuned for details.

Yes: I said the word that I criticize others for using: longevity.

I bash advocates of longevity because they promote supplements that primarily provide inputs into the ATP-generating Kreb’s cycle in mitochondria or promote mitophagy, i.e., removal of damaged mitochondria to be replaced by healthier ones. Yes, this prolongs life in worms, mice, and other non-human species but it is a big leap to then charge someone hundreds of dollars per month for a supplement or combination of supplements purported to recreate these effects in humans. Compound this with the flood of fraudulent “science” that has been debunked behind the arguments behind resveratrol, sirtuins, etc. that cannot be corroborated yet continue to be promoted by the same people who believe that plastic surgery is the same as youthfulness and longevity.

My use of the word “longevity” refers to the preservation or restoration of factors that reduce the likelihood of falls, fractures, frailty, death from common conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, while preserving vigor and independence. Perhaps “healthy aging” is a better term, since no one can actually claim that a supplement or a program actually lengthens life. Obviously, no one wants to live to say, age 97 being pushed around in a wheelchair, having to have the assistance of a nurse’s aid to dress or feed yourself, or succumb to the mindless attentions of the drug-dispensing doctor. Instead, we want to be riding our bikes, partying with friends, enjoying our families, only to keel over unexpectedly without months or years of suffering from declining health.

But one factor emerges as being a major factor in maintaining youthfulness and increasing the potential for healthy, vigorous aging: the preservation or restoration of muscle. One illustration of the benefits of muscle unexpectedly comes from the large databases that have tracked the fates of >50,000 people over many years, people who have intentionally lost weight. In the ASPREE database, for instance, >19,000 Americans and Australians were tracked over nearly five years. People with a diagnosis of heart disease, atrial fibrillation, cancer, anemia, dementia, history of bleeding, impaired ability to engage in daily activities were excluded. When these 19,000+ were segregated into those who intentionally lost weight (not unintentionally, as in cancer or other chronic illness) vs. those who did not, the following was seen:

graphs: ACM vs. body size

From Hussain et al 2023

The orange line represents mortality over 8 years of people who lost >10% of their original body weight, e.g., a 240-pound man losing 24 or more pounds. It shows that men experience a 3-fold increased likelihood of dying over that time period, women experience a doubling. Similar curves were seen with people who reduced waist circumference. The observations from the ASPREE database do not stand alone but have been echoed by the evidence from the NIH’s NHANES database, the Western European EPIC Norfolk with 12,500 participants, the 1946 British Birth Cohort Study with 2700 participants, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study with 44,000 participants, a Chinese study including nearly 750,000 participants. In all these studies, people with cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other major illnesses were excluded at the start.

Now here is where we take some leaps of logic. How did these people lose weight if they did so intentionally? It’s no surprise that nearly everyone who has lost weight has done so by reducing calorie intake. There are uncommon exceptions, e.g., someone who engaged in extreme exercise after leading a largely sedentary life. But I believe it is a safe assumption that >90% of people who lost 10% or more of their weight did so by reducing calorie intake in some form: a low-calorie diet program, some other variation of diet such as low-fat or low-carb, a bariatric procedure that reduces stomach volume. (These data precede the widespread use of GLP-1 agonist drugs, pharmaceuticals that reduces appetite and slow stomach emptying, also variations on reduced calorie intake. We therefore cannot blame these outcomes on the GLP-1s, although similar outcomes are likely to emerge over time.) Then what can we surmise as the driver, the underlying cause, of increased mortality, i.e., earlier death, that is associated with weight loss?

The majority of people who lose weight lose mostly subcutaneous fat, i.e., fat below the skin, a more benign form of fat. They also lose a lesser quantity of abdominal visceral fat, i.e., a more problematic form of fat encircling abdominal organs. But this should not account for increased mortality. There is an obligatory drop in basal metabolic rate (BMR) with weight lost by reducing calories but, if anything, that might even be expected to reduce risk for premature death, as it slows down body metabolism. Could the distortions of appetite hormones such as leptin and ghrelin be responsible? After weight loss through caloric restriction, leptin decreases and ghrelin increases, both of which increase appetite. (Yes: You are hungrier after weight loss than before, a painful irony.) We know that increased levels of leptin are a powerful indicator of increased early death. We also know that, of weight lost through caloric restriction, 25% is muscle. If someone loses, say, 40 pounds, 10 pounds will be muscle—an alarming quantity. And, because BMR is reduced after weight loss due to the loss of BMR-determining muscle mass, weight is inevitably regained as fat, very little as muscle. It means that phenomena such as insulin resistance, inflammation, blood glucose, blood pressure, etc. are all worse after weight regain than before weight lost. It also means that future risk for falls, fractures, frailty, and loss of independence are all increased, currently reflected in the rise of sarcopenia, i.e., severe loss of muscle, among those 65 years and older.

Could it therefore be distortions of leptin and loss of muscle that shorten lifespan? All arrows point in that direction. So can we reduce or eliminate such risks, i.e., lose fat weight, preserve or even increase muscle while avoiding distortions of appetite hormones like leptin and thereby mitigate risk for shortening lifespan and extend lifespan? I believe we can and that is the line of reasoning and practical application that I am pursuing here in this blog, as well as in my new Super Body book. My hope is that this conversation will help turn the disastrous tide of premature frailty and death that is becoming a huge societal issue because of all the misinformation that is gaining traction and destined to become worse as GLP-1 agonists add to the mess.

In the meantime, consider getting 1) an inexpensive bioimpedance scale to measure muscle (“non-fat”) mass to track over time, and 2) an inexpensive dynamometer that measures grip strength. (Unfortunately, prices have skyrocketed over the past year; I bought my dynamometer a number of years ago for $7.99; that same device is now $14.99. Others can cost hundreds of dollars.) I shall be discussing use of these devices/measures in coming weeks and months, but both provide values that you can track easily and inexpensively.

If you’d like even greater control over such issues, consider pre-ordering my new Super Body book where I discuss these topics in greater detail. Super Body is available for pre-order:

 
e-books:
 
Audio books:

The original IHB post is currently found on the: ⎆Infinite Health Blog, but accessing it there can require an unnecessary separate blog membership. The copy of it above is complete, and has been re-curated and enhanced for the Inner Circle membership.

D.D. Infinite Health icon


Tags: body,frailty,grip,gut,IHB,mass,microbiota,muscles,opiates,PCM,probiotics,reuteri,sarcopenia,sibo,super


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