Sarcopenia / Muscle Loss
Resistance training is the lever. Nutrition supports it.
The letters on this page
Twelve interventions on this page. Six carry a letter; six are listed without one, with the reason.
- •Creatine can raise serum creatinine and make creatinine-based eGFR appear lower without indicating kidney injury. Tell your clinician you take it, and use caution with existing kidney disease.
- •Higher protein intake needs medical input in advanced chronic kidney disease.
- •Large intermittent bolus doses of vitamin D have been linked to more falls in some trials. Vitamin D also interacts with thiazide diuretics and digoxin.
- •Omega-3 fatty acids can modestly affect platelet function; large cardiovascular trials generally have not shown a major increase in serious bleeding. High-dose regimens can increase atrial fibrillation risk.
- •Statins can cause muscle symptoms that mimic or worsen sarcopenia. Stopping a statin is a decision for a physician.
- •Long-term corticosteroids can accelerate muscle loss.
- •Anabolic steroids and exogenous testosterone change muscle mass. Tell your physician about any hormone use.
Grades reflect the strength of human trial evidence for muscle outcomes specifically. A supplement can grade well for one use and poorly for another, and these grades describe its evidence for sarcopenia Age-related loss of muscle mass and strength..
The foundation. The intervention with the strongest human trial evidence for muscle mass and function; everything below supports it.
Not graded for this use. Combination. EBL grades an intervention at the dose and protocol a trial studied. No trial has studied this combination as a combination, so it carries no letter; the components are graded separately.
Distribute ~25-30 g per meal to clear the leucine threshold. Gains pair with training and plateau near 1.6 g/kg/day.
Adds to lean mass and strength gains when paired with training. No loading phase needed.
Modest, and mostly on mobility rather than mass. Large trials are null on strength. Graded A elsewhere for lipids; this is its muscle evidence.
Not graded for this use. Omega-3 is graded for cardiovascular endpoints, not for muscle mass or strength. The sarcopenia evidence is modest and mostly on mobility rather than on muscle itself.
Not anabolic in people who are not deficient. Multiple RCTs show no gain in strength, mass, or performance. Correct a true deficiency, then stop expecting muscle.
Not graded for this use. Vitamin D is graded for deficiency correction, falls and fracture. It is not graded as an anabolic agent, and correcting a deficiency is not the same claim as building muscle.
No reliable benefit for strength or mass in older adults in pooled analyses. Positive signals are confined to clinical wasting and bed rest.
C for muscle specifically. A for lipids
Not graded for this use. Omega-3's graded uses are cardiovascular event endpoints. The row's own note already said C for muscle specifically.
Correct deficiency only; null RCTs in non-deficient adults
Not graded for this use. Vitamin D's graded uses cover deficiency correction, falls, fracture, cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory infection. Muscle mass is not among them.
Not graded for this use. L-citrulline is graded on blood pressure (C) and on exercise performance (D, tested without benefit). No trial on this record measured muscle mass or strength in sarcopenia, so this row carries no letter.
Tested in adults with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes: no effect on grip strength, lean mass or bone (PMID 39770949); no overall effect on grip strength in 299 adults (PMID 42308284).
This page is educational only. See a clinician for rapid or unexplained muscle or weight loss, new weakness, or frequent falls, and before raising protein or starting creatine if you have kidney disease. Every supplement and dose change is a decision for the prescriber first. The Drug-Nutrient Depletion tool and the Contraindications Search are designed to help you prepare that conversation.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any grade on this page describes the strength of published human trial evidence in the populations studied. It is not a recommendation for any individual and is not medical advice. Starting, stopping or changing any supplement or medication is a decision for your physician.