There is a press release that got forwarded to me by someone I trust out on some new human geriatric research and new rat research which might help aging ferrets if it also turns out to apply for them. Leucine supplementation prevented muscle loss. The work is from Lydie Combaret, Dominique Dardevet and colleagues at the Human Nutrition Research Centre of Auvergne, INRA, Clermont- Ferrand, France. In humans after 40 we begin to lose 1/2% to 2% of our muscle mass per year, all else remaining unchanged and the cause -- remember these are individuals who didn't change in ways that made them couch potatoes -- is thought to be less effective breakdown of protein into some of the amino acids. It was already known that adding leucine restored muscle protein building in the body, but not if leucine affected the breakdown process itself. It turns out at adding leucine in rat diets actually improved the process of breaking digested protein into the amino acids the body uses. START QUOTE The team of researchers believe that the age-related problem results from defective inhibition of ubiquitin-proteasome dependent proteoloysis, a complex degradative machinery that breaks down contractile muscle protein, and that leucine supplementation can fully restore correct function. "Preventing muscle wasting is a major socio-economic and public health issue, that we may be able to combat with a leucine-rich diet," says senior co-author Didier Attaix. Commenting on the work Michael Rennie from the University of Nottingham Medical School at Derby says: "This is exciting because it strengthens the idea of a co-ordinated linkage between the meal- related stimulation of protein synthesis and the inhibition of breakdown." END QUOTE I will have to search Pubmed. -- Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List co-moderator http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives fan http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ replacing http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress advisor http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5080]