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The effectiveness of leucine on muscle protein synthesis, lean body mass and leg lean mass accretion in older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
In the present study, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the ability of leucine supplementation to increase the muscle protein fraction synthetic rate and to augment lean body mass or leg lean mass in elderly patients. A literature search was conducted on Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases up to 31 December 2013 for clinical trials that investigated the administration of leucine as a nutrient that affects muscle protein metabolism and muscle mass in elderly subjects. The included studies were randomised controlled trials. The primary outcome for the meta-analysis was the protein fractional synthetic rate. Secondary outcomes included lean body mass and leg lean mass. A total of nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the muscle protein fractional synthetic rate after intervention significantly increased in the leucine group compared with the control group (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 1·08, 95 % CI 0·50, 1·67; P < 0·001). No difference was found between the groups in relation to lean body mass (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 0·18, 95 % CI − 0·18, 0·54; P = 0·318) or leg lean mass (pooled standardised difference in mean changes 0·006, 95 % CI − 0·32, 0·44; P = 0·756). These findings suggest that leucine supplementation is useful to address the age-related decline in muscle mass in elderly individuals, as it increases the muscle protein fractional synthetic rate.
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“A meta-analysis of RCTs revealed a significant increase in the rate of muscle protein fractional synthesis with leucine supplementation in older adults.47”
From Nutritional and exercise interventions in individuals with sarcopenic obesity around retirement age: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [47]
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“Incidentally, while increased leucine intakes through leucine supplementation over longer periods (up to three months) significantly increased MPS in older adults [51], this failed to increase lean mass compared to a control.”
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Xu, Z.-R., Tan, Z.-J., Zhang, Q., Gui, Q.-F., & Yang, Y.-M.
- Affiliations
- First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University (CN)
- ORCID
- Zhang, Qin
- Venue
- British Journal of Nutrition
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-09-19
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 25-34
- ISSN
- 0007-1145 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2662
- OpenAlex
- W2161210071
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 0.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- British Journal Of Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Science and Technology Program of Zhejiang Province
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Nutrition and Health in Aging
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Keywords
- leucine supplementation, muscle protein synthesis, fractional synthesis rate, lean body mass, leg lean mass, sarcopenia, older adults, age-related muscle loss, muscle protein metabolism
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Body Composition, Humans, Leg, Leucine, Muscle Proteins, Body Mass Index, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Databases, Factual, Muscle, Skeletal, Dietary Supplements
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