Revolutionizing Women's Health: Protein, Menopause & Skeletal Muscle | Dr. Jamie Baum | Dr. Jaime Baum

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:00)
Welcome to The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show, where cutting-edge science meets innovation and practical application for everybody. This is a very special episode in which I bring you my dear friend, Dr. Jamie Baum. She's an associate professor at the University of Arkansas, and I trained with her at the University of Illinois. In this episode, we discussed some fascinating things that I guarantee, you have not heard anywhere else. We talked about the role of skeletal muscle in appetite regulation. Yep, you heard that right. We also discussed perimenopause, postmenopause nutrition, where the science is and where we need more of it. We discussed the different forms of dietary protein and their impact on appetite regulation so much more. Please sit down with me for this episode with Jamie Baum.
Dr. Jamie Baum, welcome to the show. You are currently an associate professor in the Department of Food Sciences, and you are the Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Arkansas. But wait, more importantly, you and I, we go way back. We go back to undergraduate.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (1:18)
That's correct.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:20)
And we both trained with Dawn Layman, which is amazing. You went on and you've actually done extraordinary things with your career. You've gone on as a PhD in Nutritional Sciences. You've played a role in industry, as well as current research and really educating. Welcome to the show.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (1:40)
Thanks. I'm glad we finally made this work.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:42)
Yeah. I mean, listen, I've been asking you to come on to the show for like two years.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (1:47)
Yeah. And it's been awesome to see you at a Rockstar. You've become.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:50)
Well, thank you. And obviously, we don't do it alone. I do it with people like you and Dawn. I am really excited to share you with the audience because when I have a question, I will call you. Oftentimes, I will call you. I will say, hey, Jamie, what are you thinking about? Where are we at with protein for women? This perimenopause, postmenopause space seems to be growing exponentially. And, you know, your original research really focused on the role of dietary protein, amino acids, fatty acids, and regulation of skeletal muscle. And you are now very interested in women's health among other things.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (2:30)
That's right. I was actually thinking about this as I was preparing to come here today. Because I think one of the first projects, I'm not sure if you helped with it or not, that I worked on with Dawn was in weight loss in women with higher protein intake and as the decades have passed and I sit at conferences, I noticed that the protein space is really underrepresented, women are really underrepresented both in research and as the people doing the research. And I think that's fueled my passion in these last few years is to get us more represented and at the table.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:08)
Yeah. I think that that's very true. When you, and women in all research, but very much so in the protein and muscle space. And there was Emily, do you know Emily Lance?

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (3:23)
Yes. We met a couple of times.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:24)
Okay. So she is, I think she's not a Galveston. She's, yeah, I think she is a Galveston. And she was talking about how dietary protein recommendations, we don't exactly know why not based on muscle mass may be different for women. I don't know where you are with that or if you've thought about it or where some of the current research is at around women.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (3:47)
Yeah. So what is it? We've published a few review papers several years ago with Bob Wolfe who sort of...

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:55)
We all know Bob Wolfe, yes.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (3:56)
You know, the Mecca of protein and protein requirements. And, you know, the initial work for protein requirements was done in young college age males. That's where the whole 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight protein started. There hasn't been much updates since then.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (4:13)
Isn't that crazy? There has not been updates for changing guidelines.

**Dr. Jamie Baum** (4:18)
That's right. And I know they recently did a literature search. They're trying to see what's out there. Can the guidelines be updated based on the science that's available? And their benchmark has not moved since these guidelines were created. So, it's amazing to me that this hasn't been done. At least with the dietary guidelines, they're recognizing finally that not everyone age 19 and older has the same requirements for protein. But it really just seems that whatever they're looking for in terms of moving the needle on recommendations, the research just isn't there yet to make a declaration.