Low muscle mass combined with changes in physical function and muscle quality is defined as sarcopenia. In people > 60 years, sarcopenia reaches 10% and tends to increase with age. Individual nutrients, such as protein, may have a protective role against sarcopenia, but recent evidence suggests that protein alone has been ineffective in increasing muscle strength. Dietary patterns, instead, with a high “anti-inflammatory” potential, such as the Mediterranean dietary pattern, have been considered as an emerging dietary remedy against sarcopenia. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence of the role of Mediterranean diet in sarcopenia prevention and/or improvement, including recent data, in healthy elders. We searched published studies about sarcopenia and the Mediterranean diet until December 2022 in Pubmed, Cochrane, Scopus search engine and grey literature. In total, ten articles were identified as relevant: four cross-sectional studies and six prospective. No clinical trial was identified. Only three studies assessed sarcopenia presence and four measured muscle mass, which is an essential criterion in sarcopenia diagnosis. Mediterranean diet adherence had, in general, a positive role in muscle mass and muscle function, while the results were less clear with regard to muscle strength. Additionally, there was no evidence of a positive effect of the Mediterranean diet on sarcopenia. There is a need for conduction of clinical trials in order to reach cause–effects conclusions regarding the importance of the Mediterranean diet in sarcopenia prevention and management in Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean populations.

(1) Background: Emotional eating is considered as the propensity to eat in response to emotions. It is considered as a critical risk factor for recurrent weight gain. Such overeating is able to affect general health due to excess energy intake and mental health. So far, there is still considerable controversy on the effect of the emotional eating concept. The objective of this study is to summarize and evaluate the interconnections among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns; (2) Methods: This is a thorough review of the reported associations among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns. We compressively searched the most precise scientific online databases, e.g., PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar to obtain the most up-to-date data from clinical studies in humans from the last ten years (2013–2023) using critical and representative keywords. Several inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied for scrutinizing only longitudinal, cross-sectional, descriptive, and prospective clinical studies in Caucasian populations; (3) Results: The currently available findings suggest that overeating/obesity and unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g., fast food consumption) are associated with emotional eating. Moreover, the increase in depressive symptoms seems to be related with more emotional eating. Psychological distress is also related with a greater risk for emotional eating. However, the most common limitations are the small sample size and their lack of diversity. In addition, a cross-sectional study was performed in the majority of them; (4) Conclusions: Finding coping mechanisms for the negative emotions and nutrition education can prevent the prevalence of emotional eating. Future studies should further explain the underlying mechanisms of the interconnections among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns.

This study aimed to review the current evidence on the independent and combined effects of diet and exercise and their impact on skeletal muscle mass in the elderly population. Skeletal muscle makes up approximately 40% of total body weight and is essential for performing daily activities. The combination of exercise and diet is known to be a potent anabolic stimulus through stimulation of muscle protein synthesis from amino acids. Aging is strongly associated with a generalized deterioration of physiological function, including a progressive reduction in skeletal muscle mass and strength, which in turn leads to a gradual functional impairment and an increased rate of disability resulting in falls, frailty, or even death. The term sarcopenia, which is an age-related syndrome, is primarily used to describe the gradual and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass (mainly in type II muscle fibers) and function. Multimodal training is emerging as a popular training method that combines a wide range of physical dimensions. On the other hand, nutrition and especially protein intake provide amino acids, which are essential for muscle protein synthesis. According to ESPEN, protein intake in older people should be at least 1 g/kgbw/day. Essential amino acids, such as leucine, arginine, cysteine, and glutamine, are of particular importance for the regulation of muscle protein synthesis. For instance, a leucine intake of 3 g administered alongside each main meal has been suggested to prevent muscle loss in the elderly. In addition, studies have shown that vitamin D and other micronutrients can have a protective role and may modulate muscle growth; nevertheless, further research is needed to validate these claims. Resistance-based exercise combined with a higher intake of dietary protein, amino acids, and/or vitamin D are currently recognized as the most effective interventions to promote skeletal muscle growth. However, the results are quite controversial and contradictory, which could be explained by the high heterogeneity among studies. It is therefore necessary to further assess the impact of each individual exercise and nutritional approach, particularly protein and amino acids, on human muscle turnover so that more efficient strategies can be implemented for the augmentation of muscle mass in the elderly.