How are your muscles?

 

  Aging, which means the gradual deterioration of the structure and function of the body with age, is irresistible. In other words, a Korean saying that ‘We can’t fight against age’, the issue of aging, which approaches equally to all, may be the subject that is receiving the most attention now that we have recently become economically and socially prosperous.

  As mentioned above, due to aging, various organs of the human body, such as organs, muscles, and bones, become weak or incapacitated like an aging automobile. Among them, the decrease in the amount and function of muscles used most for moving or living affects the quality of life of the elderly. In severe cases, it can lead to secondary damage (fall, collapse, difficulty in moving, etc.), which is very serious. The disease caused by this decrease in muscle mass and function is called 'Sarcopenia', and recently the WHO recognized it as a disease and gave it a disease code.

  In this plan, we want to check the recent research trends through the overall flow of patent trends for food and medicines development for treatment, along with specific details on Sarcopenia among various problems caused by aging.

 

1. What is Sarcopenia?

  Sarcopenia refers to a disease in which muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle function all decrease with increasing age. The causes of Sarcopenia vary from person to person. The most common causes are low protein intake and lack of exercise, but in particular, the rate of Sarcopenia caused by insufficient intake and absorption of essential amino acids is very high. Another cause is the lack of hormones associated with aging.

  In addition, Sarcopenia not only for the muscle itself, but also frequently occurs secondary to acute chronic diseases such as diabetes, infectious diseases and cancer, to degenerative diseases such as spinal stenosis. Sarcopenia is known to occur at a high frequency even when chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and hormonal diseases, so it is a recent issue as a disease related to aging.

2. Sarcopenia prevention and solution

   ◎ Healthy eating habits

  The first is a balanced diet, the second is sufficient protein. According to the Korean Nutrition Society, divide into 5 food groups- grains (carbohydrates), meat, fish, eggs, legumes (protein), vegetables (vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber), fruits (vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, sugar), and milk/dairy products(calcium), and recommend that grains 2-4 times a day, meat, fish, eggs, and legumes 3-4 times a day, vegetables 2 times a day, fruits 1-2 times a day, milk and dairy products 1-2 times a day. Older people need more protein because their ability to synthesize them into muscle decreases, even if they take the same amount of protein.

 ◎ Regular exercise

  It has been reported through many studies that regular exercise is effective in improving physical function, enhancing immunity and preventing aging. However, increasing the intensity of exercise recklessly can bring side effects or adverse effects. Therefore, it is important to choose an effective exercise that suits your fitness level. In addition, it would be even better if you could do a customized exercise that determines the amount and intensity of exercise depending on your physical strength and condition during exercise.

 3. Patent trend of food and mediciness to prevent Sarcopenia

<Detailed classification of food and medicines for preventing Sarcopenia>

   ◎ Application trends by year / country

▲ Application trends by year

 

▲ Trend of applications by section / country

  As we can see the graph from the filing trend by year, overall, it shows a continuous upward trend (↗). It is observed that the filing activity by country is also active in general. However, recently (as of the late 2010s), the increase in applications in Korea and the United States is relatively high compared to other countries.

   ◎ Application Trends by All Applicants

▲ Top applicants for foods and medicines to prevent Sarcopenia

▲ The status of the top applicants for foods and medicines to prevent Sarcopenia

  As a result of extracting the top applicants, the applicant with the largest number of applications is Yonsei University Industry-University Cooperation Foundation (KR), followed by BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO (US), WYETH LLC (US), NESTLE (CH), etc.

   ◎ Application trends for foods and medicines to prevent Sarcopenia by use

                                                  ▲ Status of application counts by year / use

                                                            ▲ Top Applicants by Application

  The use of technologies related to Sarcopenia and muscle strength improvement is confirmed in the order of food, medicines (APP-03) > medicines (APP-02) > food (APP-01). And uses of both APP-01 and APP-03 are showing an increasing trend when the number of application groups is listed in time sequentially.

  In addition, in the case of APP-03 use, it is recognized that most of the top applicants are applicants of Korean nationality. As it’s confirmed that a large number of applicants in the form of schools and research institutes are included in the upper-level applicant group, technology seems in the development stage.

   ◎ Application trends by material for food and medicine to prevent Sarcopenia

▲ Status of application by year / material (MAT-01, 02, 06)

▲ Top applicants by material (MAT-01, 02, 06)

  As materials for Sarcopenia and muscle improvement-related technologies, extracts (MAT-01) > compounds (MAT-02) > amino acids (MAT-06) are identified in the order. Based on MAT-01, MAT-02, MAT-06, they’re seen that active research is in progress with an increasing trend when the number of application groups is listed in time series,

  As for MAT-01, it’s recognized that most of the top applicants are researchers and school type of applicants, whereas the applicants of MAT-02 and MAT-06 in the upper level are the mostly corporation type.

 

  Along with the rapid aging of the population, the anti-aging market is growing significantly and remarkably as time goes by. However, for Sarcopenia, there has not been a clear development in relation to the essential preventive methods and treatments.

  Only recently, Sarcopenia has been drawing attention, and research for prevention and treatment has been active, but there is no commercial product developed in the form of medicine or food in reality. Therefore, it is expected that continuous investment and R&D in related fields will be required. It will need to narrow the technological gap through patent monitoring of advanced countries and companies with excellent biotechnology.

 

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 ※ References

- Muscle loss with age, Sarcopenia, is a disease. (2021, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital)

- How to prevent ‘Sarcopenia’, which is a decrease in muscle mass? (Korea Policy Briefing 2021)

- Current status and prospect of anti-aging treatment and service market (Biotechnology Policy Research Center, 2020)

- Development of original technology for controlling aging muscle loss (Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, 2014)

 

😄Report by JunKyu PARK, powe0519@wips.co.kr

IP Strategy 3 Team l Manager

JunKyu PARK specializes in patent trend analysis and patent big data processing using AI, focusing on major industries such as displays, batteries and polymers.