Investigating the Effects of Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate on Glucose Handling in Older and Younger Men.

One change associated with human aging is a reduction in "fitness", both in terms of how far or quickly a person can run/cycle/swim and also in how well their blood vessels work. Additionally a person's metabolic fitness decreases; this is how well the body copes with nutrition and is why, for example, older people have a higher risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have shown that as people become less fit, they are at increased risk of suffering a complication whilst undergoing surgery. It has also been shown that measuring how fit someone is, is better at predicting the risk of a surgical complication than purely using a person's age alone. Lots of research has shown that exercise can potentially reverse some of the age-related declines in fitness, however most has used long sessions of continuous exercise over a long period of time. High-intensity interval training (HIT), whereby people cycle on an exercise bike very hard for a minute, followed by a short rest, repeated over the course of 15 minutes can rapidly improve a person's fitness. However not everyone will be able to, or indeed want to participate in exercise this strenuous; therefore this research seeks to explore whether other options, such as dietary supplements can improve aspects of fitness

This study intends to examine the effect of giving a dietary supplement on the way a person's body handles the glucose (from carbohydrates/ sugars) in a meal. Previous work has shown that taking a beta-hydroxy beta-methyl butyrate (HMB) supplement may improve may improve a patient's response to glucose, however the evidence is not clear. HMB is a commercially available nutritional supplement providing a compound that the body produces each time protein is consumed, and is most commonly used by bodybuilders to help gain muscle.