Dietary supplementation with fish oil and curcumin improves gait speed and mitochondrial function during aging

Backgrounds Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder associated with adverse outcomes including falls,fractures, physical disability and mortality. Sarcopenia has multi-factorial causes going from life style changes to metabolic and cellular perturbations. Objectives The objective of this study was to determine the functional benefits of a nutritional intervention with curcumin and fish oil alone or in combination on Sarcopenia and to characterize the underlying mechanisms of action. The concept of this study was to provide combination of ingredients targeting different patho-physiological mechanisms. Methods Twenty month-old rats received a control diet supplemented with cellulose (CON), or a diet supplemented with either curcumin (CUR), fish oil (OM3) or a combination of both (CUR+OM3). Muscle functionality and metabolism was evaluated after chronic treatment during 3 months and molecular mechanisms were evaluated after short-term treatment over 4 weeks. Results Walking speed measured with the catwalk gait analyzer significantly improved in the CUR and CUR+OM3 vs CON groups, and also tended to improve with OM3 alone. These functional benefits involved an activation of the muscle antioxidant capacity by OM3 through SOD and catalase induction. This was associated with synergistic enhancement of mitochondrial bioenergetics by CUR+OM3 through increased activity of citrate synthase and respiratory complexes. Conclusion Curcumin and fish oil supplementation prevent the functional decline of muscle health during aging by directly targeting gait speed independently of muscle mass. The physiological benefits of these two ingredients are associated with the enhancement of muscle antioxidant capacity and the synergistic activation of mitochondrial energy production in aged muscle.