Roles of Nutrition on Sarcopenia: Recommendations from AWGS

Abstract

S has become one of the most appealing research focus in Geriatrics and Gerontology that attracts extensive international research attentions. Until now, over 15,000 publications related to sarcopenia have been identified in the PubMed with a substantially growing trend year by year. Sarcopenia is defined as age-related loss of muscle mass with reduced muscle strength or/and low physical performance based on the operational definitions of different working groups. Due to the fundamental differences in ethnic backgrounds, body size, body composition, dietary habits, lifestyles, risk factors, diagnosis, natural course, and treatment responses, sarcopenia in Asian populations may differ great from Caucasians. Hence, the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) started in 2013 and invited major researchers of sarcopenia or related fields in Asian countries to discuss how sarcopenia should be diagnosed and treated in Asian populations. After extensive discussions, AWGS published the Asian consensus for sarcopenia diagnosis and treatment based on research data from Asian countries, which basically followed the diagnostic algorithm of the European group. The diagnostic criteria of sarcopenia were revised in 2019, which not only modified the diagnostic algorithms, but also strongly addressed the importance to integrate sarcopenia in the clinical management of chronic conditions and multimorbidity.