Antioxidant vitamins improved training gains in older women with sarcopenia. Digest
Sarcopenia, the age-related decline in muscle mass and strength, exposes many older people to frailty, falls, and loss of independence. Exercise helps, yet the added value of antioxidant supplements in this setting is uncertain. Researchers in China asked whether vitamins C and E could boost the effects of a structured resistance training program in women already diagnosed with sarcopenia.
The team enrolled 60 women aged 60 to 75 years who met Asian Working Group criteria for sarcopenia and randomly assigned them to two groups. One group received daily vitamin C (1000 milligrams) plus vitamin E (335 milligrams), while the comparison group took placebo tablets. All participants completed supervised, full-body elastic-band resistance training three times per week for 12 weeks, with two moderate sessions weekly and a third session that alternated between heavy and light workloads.
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Here are the key results:
- At baseline, every participant had suboptimal blood vitamin C levels, and over half had low vitamin E.
- Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans showed increases in lean tissue in both groups, yet the vitamin group gained more arm lean mass and had a larger rise in skeletal muscle mass index, meaning more women crossed above the diagnostic cutoff for low muscle mass.
- Handgrip strength and knee extension strength increased with training alone, but gains were greater in the vitamin group, indicating a stronger improvement in both upper and lower limb force.
- Widely used tests to assess lower body function and mobility in older adults improved over 12 weeks in both groups, with trends that favored vitamins but did not reach clear differences between the groups.
- Only the supplemented group showed higher circulating vitamins C and E together with an improved glutathione redox ratio, a measure based on reduced and oxidized glutathione that reflects cellular antioxidant capacity.
- Supplementation favorably affected markers of lipid and protein damage: malondialdehyde rose in the placebo group but fell with vitamins, while protein carbonyls increased in the placebo group but remained stable in the supplemented group. The inflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) dropped more in the supplemented women, even though tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) decreased similarly in both groups.
These results link the superior muscle adaptations to better control of oxidative stress and reduced inflammation. By raising antioxidant vitamin levels and supporting glutathione, the supplements appeared to reduce stress-related damage to cell membranes and muscle proteins during training, which may have allowed the muscle tissue to adapt more effectively. Earlier studies in healthy older adults reported mixed and sometimes even detrimental, effects of vitamins C and E during resistance training, and this inconsistency may stem from differences in baseline antioxidant status. Because many women in this trial started with low vitamin C and E levels, correcting these deficiencies may have provided conditions that supported stronger training responses.
The findings suggest that targeted antioxidant supplementation could be useful when older adults with sarcopenia start structured resistance training, particularly if their baseline vitamin status is poor. However, the trial involved only older women with sarcopenia, lacked groups receiving vitamins without exercise, and lasted only 12 weeks, so it cannot determine the isolated long-term effects of the supplements. In this clip, Dr. Stuart Phillips describes how muscle mass and strength decline with age and outlines their importance for maintaining quality of life.