Exercise plus protein calms the slow-burn inflammation of ageing

Ageing brings a chronic, low-grade inflammatory state known as inflammaging, which is linked to sarcopenia and cachexia, the muscle-wasting conditions that raise health risks in older adults. Losing muscle threatens independence and quality of life, so researchers are hunting for strategies that protect it. Exercise and protein are the two most obvious levers, but it has been unclear whether they work better alone or together against the inflammatory side of ageing. This review set out to compare each approach, and their combination, on circulating markers of inflammation.

The authors systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL and SPORTDiscus for studies published up to January 2024. They included randomised controlled trials in older adults that tested exercise training, protein consumption, or the two combined, against a control condition. The outcomes were three circulating inflammatory markers: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Results across the eligible trials were then pooled so that the individual and combined strategies could be compared directly.

CRP fell significantly with exercise compared with protein alone, fell further when exercise was combined with protein, and dropped across the experimental groups overall compared with controls. IL-6 followed a similar pattern, decreasing with exercise, with the combination, and across the pooled experimental groups relative to protein alone. TNF-α was the stubborn marker: it only fell significantly in the combined exercise and protein group compared with exercise alone. Protein by itself did not stand out on any of the three markers.

Exercise has long been credited with anti-inflammatory effects, and this pooled analysis backs that up while adding a twist: for TNF-α, only the combination of exercise and protein moved the needle. That strengthens the case for combined interventions against muscle wasting rather than treating training and protein as interchangeable. It also complicates the simple story that protein supplementation alone can defend ageing muscle, since protein on its own showed no clear anti-inflammatory advantage here. The authors call for future trials with larger samples and specific conditions to identify optimal strategies.

For anyone thinking about healthy ageing, this is a reason to see training and protein as partners rather than alternatives. The pooled evidence suggests exercise is the primary lever on inflammatory markers such as CRP and IL-6, while adding protein may broaden the effect to TNF-α. The analysis does not say how much protein, which type of exercise, or for how long, so it informs the direction of travel rather than the details. Individual results will vary, and this is information rather than a protocol.