Exercise-Induced Autophagy in the Prevention and Treatment of Sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is one of the aging-associated diseases with the gradual development over decades, and its development process consists of diverse changes including physiological loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, decreased repairing function after injury, and increased risk of falls and fractures, as well as the affected prognosis of diseases in the elderly. According to the statistics [1], the global number of people with the age of 60 years or above has increased substantially in recent years and is projected to accelerate in the coming decades, thereby doubling the number by 2050 to an astonishing 2.1 billion, which predicts that the number of sarcopenia will keep an increasing trend. Beyond the progressive atrophy of skeletal muscle, sarcopenia is also closely correlated with several aging-associated diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and obesity, which will in turn aggravate the onset of sarcopenia and lead to a significant impairment on the quality of life of the elderly in a vicious cycle [2–4]. According to a meta-analysis study of sarcopenia [5], it reveals that the incidence of sarcopenia in patients (65.3 ± 1.6 years old) who have cardiovascular diseases (CVD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), diabetes, or respiratory diseases is much higher than the control individuals (54.6 ± 16.2 years old) having similar diseases, reaching 31.4%, 26.4%, 31.1%, and 26.8%, respectively.