An Apple a Day…

Keeps Muscles from Wasting Away.

Some breaking health news about apples: ‘ursolic acid,” which is a compound in apple skins, may help prevent muscles wasting that can result from aging and illness.  Researchers at the University of Iowa conducted a complex study to reach their conclusions.

The research team first identified 63 genes that change in response to fasting in both people and mice and another 29 that change their expressions in the muscles of both people who are fasting and those with spinal-cord injuries.  They then looked at 1,300 small molecules that might counteract muscle atrophy.

For the second phase of the study, the researchers found that ursolic acid could actually protect against muscle wasting in mice that were deprived of food.  They even found that adding ursolic acid to the food or normal mice for a number of week prompted muscle growth.

That’s not all, though: mice that received ursolic acid became leaner and had lower blood levels of glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides, the research team found.

The researchers concluded that it’s not clear whether the findings in mice will be confirmed in human trials, however, nor whether the amount of ursolic acid consumed as part of a normal diet would protect against the ravages of muscles wasting.

Muscle wasting is a frequent symptom of illness and aging.  It prolongs hospitalization, delays recovery and, in some cases, prevents people from going back home.  It isn’t well understood, and there is no medicine for it.  It’s all the more exciting, then, that something as common as apples may very well turn out to be an alternative cure for aging and weakened muscles.