#189: Andrew Koutnik, PhD(c)- Slowing Muscle Loss, Cachexia and Muscle Growth Strategies

Andrew Koutnik, BS is a PhD student at the D’Agostino lab at The University of South Florida. We discuss his latest research in the field of muscle wasting conditions, cancer cachexia and potential therapeutic

intervention to mitigate or attenuate muscle wasting in inflammatory states.

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➢ Download the show notes and watch the full interview: http://highintensityhealth.com/189

--------------------------------------Key Takeaways----------------------------------

02:10 Prevalence of Cachexia:

03:37 What is Cachexia?

07:04 Stages of Cachexia:

10:05 Anemia and cachexia:

10:15 Loss of Muscle Tone: Muscle is its own organ system that plays in integrative role to many other aspects of the body.

19:07 Diet Impact upon Muscle/Fat Loss:

24:45 Developing Effective Therapies for Cachexia

27:11 Sarcopenia: Sarcopenia does not have all of the facets of cachexia. In both you typically lose muscle tissue and body weight. You can have sarcopenia or cachexia, but be obese. Inflammation can play a role in sarcopenia.

29:42 Chronic Stressors: Exercise, not done in the extreme)

35:52 Beneficial Growth Signals:

36:59 Categories Therapies for Cancer Cachexia: These include nutritional therapies and appetite stimulators, like anti-anorexics. Other categories include anti-inflammatories and anabolic agents.

37:24 Nutritional Therapies: The goal of nutritional therapies and appetite stimulators is to eat more calories. Generally, you are not salvaging the muscle, nor are you growing muscle. When you over-consume food in a cachexic (or normal) state, you grow a disproportionate amount of adipose tissue.

39:03 Anti-Anorexic Therapies:

40:52 Anti-Inflammatory Therapies:

44:41 Anabolic Agents: Leucine is a nutritional anabolic agent which can stimulate muscle protein synthesis. BCAAs over periods of time can induce muscle growth. Stimulating muscle protein synthesis, the synthesis of new muscle, may have an anabolic role.

53:00 Caloric Restriction: Caloric restriction has its place in potential anti-cancer therapies, but cachexia can cause death and is a co-morbidity.

56:20 SARMs for Hypertrophy: Andrew hesitates to recommend, since it has not gone through phase three trials. It is context dependent.

59:59 Low Carb vs Keto: Andrew is a type 1 diabetic and a low carb approach helps him to manage his blood sugar levels. Carbs have a place in performance. Andrew does powerlifting and has made personal records using both dietary approaches.

01:13:51 Andrew’s Elevator Speech:

➢ Download the show notes and watch the full interview: http://highintensityhealth.com/189