Study the Impact of Hirsutella Sinensis Nutrient Supplements Has on Improving Muscle Health and Metabolism in Elderly

In 1988, Irwin Rosenberg first proposed the term "Sarcopenia" for sarcopenia, which refers to the amount of muscle loss with age. In 2007, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) reached a consensus of three criteria for aging-related sarcopenia: reduced muscle mass after 65 years of age (60 or 65 years according to the criteria set by each country), weakening of muscle strength (using grip strength), and physiological performance (using walking speed)

Sarcopenia has now been officially recognized as a muscle disease related to aging, which may increase the risk of falls and fractures and both heart and respiratory diseases in the elderly. Sarcopenia causes inconvenience in the elderly, affecting their quality of life and often requiring long-term care or even resulting in death. Moreover, there is now considerable evidence that muscle and bone have common genetic, nutritional, lifestyle, and hormonal determinants. Besides, muscle and bone interact with each other to impact bone strength. A possible mechanism is the dynamic loading arises from muscle contractions and the ground impact during weight-bearing activities. In 2009, the term "sarco-osteopenia" was coined to emphasize that both weak bones and weak muscles may contribute to fractures in the elderly. Therefore, treatments related to increasing muscle mass are essential for the elderly to reduce adverse clinical outcomes such as falls and fractures. At present, the most efficient treatment is adequate nutrient intake.

The elderly often encountered malnutrition due to inadequate nutrient intake and scarce nutrient diversity. While malnutrition is often one of the leading causes of sarcopenia. Therefore, effective nutritional supplementation is essential for the elderly. Efficient nutrient supply will improve the symptoms of sarcopenia patients and improve the quality of life. As Taiwan gradually enters the advanced age society, sarcopenia in the elderly is inevitable. Preventing and treating aging-related muscle loss is becoming a crucial issue that everyone must face. However, there is still a scarcely known nutrient supplement that effectively improves muscle health in the elderly. Moreover, to increase the wiliness of the elderly in taking nutrient supplements, the nutrient supplements must be safe and easily assessable nutrient supplement and do not require a physician prescription. In the Asian population, elderlies incline to Chinese medicine supplements.

Cordyceps sinensis is a well-known valuable traditional Chinese medicine. It is the fungi-insect complex from Clavicipitacease and Cordyceps sinensis (Berk.) Sacc. parasitic on the Heptaidae insects' larvae. Cordyceps sinensis are mainly distributed in the high-mountain areas like Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu. The traditional Chinese medicine of Cordyceps sinensis have recorded its beneficial effects in kidney and lung, replenishing essence, cough relief and reducing sputum. In the 1990s, a group of female marathon runners led by Mr. Ma Jun-ren, commonly known as Ma family army, trained several world-class middle- and long-distance runner which broke 66 domestic and international records in many competitions. There has been suggestion of his secret performance-enhancing recipe, which includes the combination of Cordyceps, turtle essence and other healthcare products to the athletes' diet. This recipe sets off the Cordyceps market demand once more in China. Enormous Cordyceps were harvested and sold at the same time for research and development. The price of naturally found cordyceps become so scarce that the end-price is almost equivalent to the gold. At the same time period, a total of 22 asexual strains involving 13 genera were isolated from the Cordyceps fruiting bodies collected from different regions. Molecular identification of rDNA ITS region and RAPD molecular markers from the fruiting bodies were detailly compared to finally confirmed that Hirsutella sinensis was an asexual strain of Cordyceps sinensis.

Researchers have found that Hirsutella sinensis has many benefits in anti-inflammatory, anti-liver cancer activity, reduces tetrachloride damage, immune regulation, improves Bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis, aristolochic acid or cisplatin induced Kidney damage... and more. More importantly, study have found that Hirsutella sinensis can help to increase connection between gastrocnemius muscle fibers and spinal nerve under the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis animal disease model. However, culturing conditions for Hirsutella sinensis are extremely difficult and long, one of the key culturing condition is the temperature, must be maintaining at 16-20℃ for 45 days. Fortunately, Grape King Biotech has core technology using liquid fermentation which greatly shortened the cultivation time, thus, providing sufficient and safe products to patients.