The truth about muscle loss after 40 (and why it hits desi adults harder)

Most desi adults notice it before they have a name for it. A jar feels heavier than it used to. Climbing the stairs at 50 isn't the same as it was at 40. Standing up from the floor takes a hand on the table. None of this is "just ageing." It's a biological process called sarcopenia, the gradual loss of muscle mass and strength that begins in your thirties and accelerates after 50 if nothing is done about it.

The South Asian piece of this story is rarely told. Decades of research have made clear that desi populations face a steeper version of this curve, with lower starting muscle mass, faster decline once it begins, and a much stronger link to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Most generic ageing-and-protein content is written for a Northern European or American audience. The version desi households need is more specific.

What is sarcopenia, in plain language?

Sarcopenia is the medical term for age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. It begins in the third decade of life and progresses gradually until around age 50, after which the rate of loss speeds up considerably.¹ Less muscle means weaker grip, slower walking pace, harder time recovering from illness, and substantially higher risk of falls and fractures in older age. It's the underlying reason older people become more dependent on others for daily tasks.

The condition isn't inevitable. It's the default trajectory if nothing intervenes, but adequate nutrition (especially protein) and regular movement can slow it dramatically and even reverse early stages.

The rate of muscle loss across adult life

That cumulative number is the one most people don't see coming. Half your muscle, gone over the course of forty years, with most of it slipping away in your fifties, sixties, and seventies.

Why South Asians face a steeper curve

Desi adults start with less muscle. Multiple studies of body composition in South Asian populations have established what researchers call the "thin-fat" phenotype: lower lean muscle mass and higher body fat compared to Northern European adults at the same BMI.⁴ The difference is genuinely physiological, not just behavioural. It means desi adults enter midlife with less reserve, so the same percentage decline has a bigger functional impact.

The diabetes connection runs in both directions. A study of 750 Indian adults found sarcopenia in 60% of those with Type 2 diabetes, compared to 28% of non-diabetics, suggesting that the two conditions reinforce each other.⁶ South Asians already face roughly four times the diabetes risk of white Europeans. Muscle loss is part of why.

What menopause adds for women

Women face a specific and substantial acceleration of muscle loss around menopause. Peer-reviewed research shows postmenopausal women have approximately 5.7% less lean mass than premenopausal women, with the bulk of that decline happening over the menopause transition itself.⁷ The mechanism is hormonal: oestrogen is anabolic, meaning it actively helps build and maintain muscle. When oestrogen levels drop, muscle protein synthesis slows.

This creates what researchers call anabolic resistance. The same amount of protein that maintained muscle mass at 35 isn't enough at 55. A postmenopausal woman needs more protein per kilogram of body weight than she did before menopause to maintain the same muscle.⁸ Almost no desi household conversation addresses this, and almost no general nutrition content gives women specific guidance for this period.

By age 60, the average postmenopausal woman has lost up to 16% of the muscle mass she had at 40 if nothing has been done to slow it.² Combined with the lower baseline muscle in South Asian women, this is the population at highest risk in the desi UK community.

What actually works to slow muscle loss

Two things, both well-established in research. Neither is a quick fix; both compound over years.

Adequate protein, distributed across meals

The threshold most consistently identified in research is 1.0 to 1.2g of protein per kg of body weight per day for adults over 40, rising to 1.2g/kg minimum for those over 65.¹ For a 70kg person, that's 70 to 84g of protein daily. Postmenopausal women may benefit from the higher end of that range, or even 1.4 to 1.6g/kg if combined with resistance training.⁸

Just as important: protein needs to be distributed across the day, not all eaten at one meal. Each meal should deliver at least 25 to 30g of protein to trigger muscle protein synthesis. A typical desi vegetarian diet delivers around 50 to 70g of protein daily, often concentrated in one meal (lunch). That's below threshold for adults over 40 and well below threshold for those over 60.

Resistance movement

Strength training, in any form, is the second non-negotiable. The protein is the building material; the movement is the signal that tells the body to use it. Resistance training doesn't have to mean a gym. Bodyweight squats, carrying shopping, climbing stairs deliberately, gardening, lifting grandchildren, and yoga with weight-bearing poses all count. Two to three sessions a week of any deliberate strength activity slows muscle loss meaningfully.

This isn't a recommendation to take up powerlifting at 60. It's a recommendation to make sure that the body is being asked to do something heavy at least a couple of times a week.

How to actually deliver enough protein in a desi diet

The protein gap in most desi vegetarian households isn't about bad food. It's about portion sizes and the number of protein-containing items per meal.

• An extra portion of dahi. A full bowl of plain dahi (around 170g) adds 12 to 17g of protein. Easiest single change.
• Bigger dal portions. Two bowls instead of one adds 6 to 7g.
• Eggs at breakfast. Two boiled eggs add 12g of protein to a meal that's typically light on it.
• Paneer in more dishes. 50g of paneer in a sabzi adds 9g. 100g portions push it to 18g.
• A high-protein blend in everyday cooking. A tablespoon of whey-based blend like Heldi Khana stirred into dal at the end of cooking adds 10g of protein to a single bowl, taking it from 6g to over 15g.

The aim isn't to engineer a clinical-feeling diet. It's to lift a typical desi day from 50 to 70g of total protein to 80 to 100g, distributed across three meals each delivering 25 to 30g. That difference, sustained over a decade, is the difference between muscle loss following the default trajectory and muscle loss being meaningfully slowed.

A note on resistance to this idea

Many desi parents (and many of us watching them) are resistant to the suggestion that they need to "do something" about their diet or movement. The food has worked for sixty years. Why fix something that isn't broken?

The honest answer: the food worked when desi adults were doing significantly more physical labour than most do now. A grandfather who walked five kilometres a day, climbed stairs without lifts, hand-washed clothes, and worked outdoors had a metabolic context the same diet doesn't serve in a flat in Hounslow with a desk job and a Tesco delivery. The food itself is fine. The activity context around it has changed.

This isn't a Western intrusion into traditional eating. It's the recognition that the protein needs of an ageing, mostly-sedentary adult body are higher than the food the household has been cooking can deliver. The fix is to top it up, not to throw it out.

Frequently asked questions

Heldi is a food supplement. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. Heldi contains milk. Speak to your GP before introducing any food supplement if you have an existing medical condition.