Jab to boost OAP fitness

A HORMONE jab could get the elderly exercising like they were years younger.

Levels of osteocalcin – which increases muscle performance – naturally decline as we age.

Tests on 12-month-old mice showed they could run only half the distance of threemonth-old mice. But when the older animals were injected with the hormone their running performance matched the youngsters. The study, by Columbia University Medical Centre, also revealed that bones, which produce osteocalcin, affect muscle performance. Geneticist Professor Dr Gerard Karsenty said: ‘It was extremely surprising that a single injection of osteocalcin in a 12-month-old mouse could completely restore its muscle function to that of a threemonth-old mouse.’