Efficacy of β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate supplementation in elderly and clinical populations
Abstract
Muscle loss is common during aging and chronic diseases, such as cancer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Moreover, muscle loss has been correlated with decreased physical function, quality of life, and mortality in these populations. Therefore, interventions to counteract muscle loss in the elderly and clinical populations are needed. Recently, the efficacy of the leucine metabolite, β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB), to maintain muscle mass has been investigated in these populations. Many studies have found increases in lean mass and strength in the elderly and clinical populations when using HMB; however, not all studies have found beneficial effects of HMB supplementation. The present review summarizes published human studies investigating the efficacy of HMB supplementation in the elderly and clinical populations. In addition, the mechanisms by which HMB may exert its effects are summarized and future research directions are suggested.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In general, creatine and beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate have positive effects on lean body mass and strength, but the effects tend to be small and are not consistent.
“In general, these agents have positive effects on lean body mass and strength, but the effects tend to be small and are not consistent.”
From Evidence-Based Recommendations for Optimal Dietary Protein Intake in Older People: A Position Paper From the PROT-AGE Study Group (2013) · cites this paper as [177]
Cites
Skeletal muscle mass and distribution in 468 men and women aged 18–88 yr
Janssen, I., Heymsfield, S. B., Wang, Z., & Ross, R. (2000) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/jappl.2000.89.1.81 · Cited by 3,087 · see citing works
Satellite cell content is specifically reduced in type II skeletal muscle fibers in the elderly
Verdijk, L. B., Koopman, R., Schaart, G., Meijer, K., Savelberg, H. H. C. M., & van Loon, L. J. C. (2007) · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00278.2006 · Cited by 489 · see citing works
Sarcopenia and Mortality among Older Nursing Home Residents
Landi, F., Liperoti, R., Fusco, D., Mastropaolo, S., Quattrociocchi, D., Proia, A., Tosato, M., Bernabei, R., & Onder, G. (2012) · Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2011.07.004 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Dodson, S., Baracos, V. E., Jatoi, A., Evans, W. J., Cella, D., Dalton, J. T., & Steiner, M. S. (2011) · Annual Review of Medicine · doi:10.1146/annurev-med-061509-131248 · Cited by 319 · see citing works
Wilson, G. J., Wilson, J. M., & Manninen, A. H. (2008) · Nutrition & Metabolism · doi:10.1186/1743-7075-5-1 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Self-citationVukovich, M. D., Stubbs, N. B., & Bohlken, R. M. (2001) · The Journal of Nutrition · doi:10.1093/jn/131.7.2049 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
??-hydroxy-??-methylbutyrate ingestion, Part I: effects on strength and fat free mass
GALLAGHER, P. M., CARRITHERS, J. A., GODARD, M. P., SCHULZE, K. E., & TRAPPE, A. S. W. (2000) · Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise · doi:10.1097/00005768-200012000-00022 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Baier, S., Johannsen, D., Abumrad, N., Rathmacher, J. A., Nissen, S., & Flakoll, P. (2009) · Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · doi:10.1177/0148607108322403 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Eley, H. L., Russell, S. T., & Tisdale, M. J. (2008) · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · doi:10.1152/ajpendo.90567.2008 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
??-hydroxy-??-methylbutyrate ingestion, Part II: effects on hematology, hepatic and renal function
GALLAGHER, P. M., CARRITHERS, J. A., GODARD, M. P., SCHULZE, K. E., & TRAPPE, A. S. W. (2000) · Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise · doi:10.1097/00005768-200012000-00023 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Bauer, J., Biolo, G., Cederholm, T., Cesari, M., Cruz-Jentoft, A. J., Morley, J. E., Phillips, S., Sieber, C., Stehle, P., Teta, D., et al. (2013) · Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2013.05.021 · Cited by 2,553 · see citing works
Deutz, N. E. P., Bauer, J. M., Barazzoni, R., Biolo, G., Boirie, Y., Bosy-Westphal, A., Cederholm, T., Cruz-Jentoft, A., Krznariç, Z., Nair, K. S., et al. (2014) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2014.04.007 · Cited by 1,738 · see citing works
Skeletal Muscle Regulates Metabolism via Interorgan Crosstalk: Roles in Health and Disease
Argilés, J. M., Campos, N., Lopez-Pedrosa, J. M., Rueda, R., & Rodriguez-Mañas, L. (2016) · Journal of the American Medical Directors Association · doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2016.04.019 · Cited by 581 · see citing works
Nutrition, frailty, and sarcopenia
Cruz-Jentoft, A. J., Kiesswetter, E., Drey, M., & Sieber, C. C. (2017) · Aging Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1007/s40520-016-0709-0 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB)
Wilson, J. M., Fitschen, P. J., Campbell, B., Wilson, G. J., Zanchi, N., Taylor, L., Wilborn, C., Kalman, D. S., Stout, J. R., Hoffman, J. R., et al. (2013) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1186/1550-2783-10-6 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
Self-citationWu, H., Xia, Y., Jiang, J., Du, H., Guo, X., Liu, X., Li, C., Huang, G., & Niu, K. (2015) · Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics · doi:10.1016/j.archger.2015.06.020 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Current Concepts and Unresolved Questions in Dietary Protein Requirements and Supplements in Adults
Phillips, S. M. (2017) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2017.00013 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Malafarina, V., Uriz-Otano, F., Malafarina, C., Martinez, J. A., & Zulet, M. A. (2017) · Maturitas · doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2017.04.010 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Soares, J. D. P., Howell, S. L., Teixeira, F. J., & Pimentel, G. D. (2020) · Current Pharmaceutical Design · doi:10.2174/1381612826666200218100420 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Rahimi, M. H., Mohammadi, H., Eshaghi, H., Askari, G., & Miraghajani, M. (2018) · Journal of the American College of Nutrition · doi:10.1080/07315724.2018.1451789 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Li, N., Chen, S., He, Y., Chen, Y., Duan, X., He, W., Wang, Q., Liu, S., Liu, T., & Fang, H. (2025) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2025.1522287 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Fitschen, P. J., Wilson, G. J., Wilson, J. M., & Wilund, K. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Tampa (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wilund, Kenneth R.
- ORCID
- Wilson, Jacob M.
- Venue
- Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-01
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 29-36
- ISSN
- 0899-9007 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2086154147
- Cited by
- 97
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 0.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Keywords
- beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate, HMB supplementation, leucine metabolites, muscle mass loss, sarcopenia, aging, cancer, AIDS, lean body mass, muscle strength, physical function, mechanism of action
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aging, Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Humans, Models, Biological, Muscular Atrophy, Safety, Valerates, Signal Transduction, Treatment Outcome, Muscle, Skeletal, Dietary Supplements, Muscle Strength, Athletes
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
