Lift weights or get diabetes - Why muscle matters more than ever!

We’ve all heard the saying, “Use it or lose it!” and can picture getting somewhat soft and flabby if we don’t keep up our exercise regime. But based on a new research, our mantra may need to become a little more targeted to say, “Lift weights or get diabetes!”

Blunt I know, but the evidence that muscle mass is vital to stay lean and healthy is mounting. Specifically, it appears that if the progressive loss of muscle mass as we age, called sarcpopenia, accelerates then you may be at greater risk of obesity, insulin resistance and then type 2 diabetes.

Muscle loss linked to diabetes even without obesity.

Researchers at the University of California crunched the numbers on over 14,000 US adults who had bioelectrical impedance (BI) tests for muscle mass and compared their scores with their Body Mass Index and blood tests for diabetes.

Sarcopenia was associated with:
> Higher blood sugars in obese individuals
> Greater insulin resistance in non-obese (normal weight and overweight)

And the link was stronger in people less than 60 years versus older subjects. The scientists revealed that losing muscle, INDEPENDENT of obesity is associated with adverse glucose metabolism.

Just how much muscle can you lose?

Sarcopenic obesity (lower muscle mass AND obesity) is seen in 5-10% of people in their 60’s, rising to over 50% in those aged over 80 years. And up to 50% of muscle may be lost by the age of 90 years. This is why frail, old people don’t weigh much and break bones easily when they fall.

Muscle protects against diabetes 3 ways

Firstly, muscle burns up sugars helping to keep blood glucose levels normal. With more muscle, you’ve got a larger depot for glucose disposal.

Secondly, the latest buzz from the metabolism labs suggests muscle helps reduce low-grade cellular inflammation that is associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Chemicals called myokines, found in skeletal muscle counteract pro-inflammatory cytokines from fat cells. Keep or gain muscle and you stack the odds in favour of victory to the myokines and subsequent metabolic health.

Thirdly, muscle burn calories. Every kilogram of muscle burns around 10 calories a day just sitting there, before you even move a muscle. This doesn’t sound like much but a 5 kg muscle loss equates to around 2.5 kg of extra body fat. Keep muscle and keep lean.

The UCLA researchers recommended, “In this environment, interventions aimed at increasing muscle mass in younger ages and preventing muscle loss in older ages may have the potential to reduce type 2 diabetes risk.”

Get into the weights.

I know not everyone is into weight lifting, but I hope that this goes a long way to convince you why you should be. Grandma got her weights workout just lifting washing baskets and the old-school iron that was actually made of iron.

We sit too much and don’t lift much stuff, so we need to take up some form of resistance training to reduce the risk of sarcopenia and help optimise our metabolism for years to come.

You may even surprise yourself and enjoy feeling fit, strong and healthy from lifting weights. When’s your next workout?

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