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Comment by HeadsUpHigh | Hacker News Reader

There is a statistically inverse relationship between diameter of the muscle mass of the legs and dementia[1]. Higher muscle mass has more capacity to store glycogen and in a higher priority than insulin-activated GLUT receptors which in tern means less glucose and insulin spikes. And we do know that high glucose levels are inflammatory.

Point being, a more anabolic lifestyle with higher muscle mass has direct benefits in metabolic syndrome and cognitive decline, so your trade-off is incorrect.

[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

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The study you linked to doesn’t support the conclusion you claimed. It provides evidence that low muscle mass is associated with cognitive decline. But it’s presented as a binary - low muscle mass vs not low. There is no talk of a “statistically inverse relationship”, as if adding more and more muscle results in less and less cognitive decline. Intuitively, it shouldn’t be too surprising that critically low muscle mass is associated with issues. Either because it causes decline in other areas or because it is correlated with it (or both). Indeed, from that paper: “Whether low muscle mass is an early marker or a causal factor of executive cognitive decline, and elucidation of mechanisms linking muscle mass to cognitive functions remain to be determined.”

As a daily runner that makes a LOT of sense. I wouldn't have been able to put my finger on it and express it but a similar idea has already been told to me, in another context, in another form.

I also think the conclusion of the research and the poster you responded to is rather wrong. It doesn't matter how long you live if that longevity isn't pleasantly usable. From the elderly I take care of around me, I would rather die sooner from some random disease than live longer and be as useless as they are (both physically and cognitively).

>I also think the conclusion of the research and the poster you responded to is rather wrong. It doesn't matter how long you live if that longevity isn't pleasantly usable.

Agreed. The "human body is a battery" type of arguments are a common misconception and have their roots on the fact that the only positive thing we've found about inflammation so far is that it's an integral part of muscle growth as a response to exercise stimuli/stress via the mtor pathways. But that's a one-off you don't need continuous inflammation to maintain your muscle and enjoy the long term benefits of it.

Oh and the plant based protein is also wrong as that protein is 99% of the time incomplete. You need multiple sources.

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