New York Times on Sarcopenia
The mainstream press notices sarcopenia: "Bears emerge from months of hibernation with their muscles largely intact. Not so for people, who, if bedridden that long, would lose so much muscle they would have trouble standing. Why muscles wither with age is captivating a growing number of scientists, drug and food companies ... Comparisons between age groups underline the muscle disparity: An 80-year-old might have 30 percent less muscle mass than a 20-year-old. And strength declines even more than mass. Weight-lifting records for 60-year-old men are 30 percent lower than for 30-year-olds; for women the drop-off is 50 percent. With interest high among the aging, the market potential for maintaining and rebuilding muscle mass seems boundless. Drug companies already are trying to develop drugs that can build muscles or forestall their weakening ... In addition, geriatric specialists, in particular, are now trying to establish the age-related loss of muscles as a medical condition under the name sarcopenia. ... But with sarcopenia still not established as a treatable condition, 'there is no real defined regulatory path as to how one would get approved in this area.'" When you live under a regime in which all that is not permitted is forbidden, it should be no surprise that progress is slow and expensive. One of the best things that could be done for medicine in this modern age is to tear down the FDA and other similar regulatory bodies.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/health/research/31muscle.html