While the etiology of sarcopenia is poorly understood, the sequelae of this phenomenon, such as loss of independence and metabolic complications, represent a major public-health issue. The most evident candidates to explain muscle alterations in the elderly include imbalance in protein turnover, neurodegenerative processes, reduction in anabolic hormone productions such as insulin, growth and sex hormones, dysregulation of cytokine secretions, modification in the response to inflammatory events, inadequate nutritional intake and a sedentary lifestyle. Consequently, the age-related loss of muscle mass could be counteracted by adequate nutritional intake and/or exercise training. Recent observations clearly showed that intake of highly digestible leucine-rich proteins, change in daily protein pattern, or specific amino-acid supplementation may be beneficial to improve muscle anabolic response in elderly people. Studies have also highlighted the benefits of resistance or endurance training exercises toward improvements in skeletal muscle anabolism among older adults. However, although there is no question that the majority of older individuals would benefit from increased physical activity, nutritional strategies have to be tested using large, epidemiological studies before being applied to the general aged population.