Muscle Mass and Metabolic Disease: What’s the Link?
Written by: Audrey Clement, RD
To your surprise there are other benefits to weight training beyond “getting jacked” and having big muscles. What if I told you that building muscle as you age could improve your metabolic health and decrease your risk of developing diabetes? That’s right, weight training is one of the best ways to mitigate the onset of diabetes and here’s why.
When you have diabetes, your body is not able to take glucose (sugar) into your cells for energy. Because glucose is not able to be utilized, it accumulates in the blood. Without lifestyle intervention this can lead to a heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, nerve damage and more. Insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes) is the main driver to many other metabolic diseases Americans suffer from. According to the CDC, 38 million people have diabetes. 90% of those people have type 2 diabetes, which is lifestyle driven.
It is important to understand that skeletal muscle is an organ system and is actually the largest site of glucose metabolism. Skeletal muscle is responsible for 80% of glucose uptake in the body. At rest, those who have adequate muscle mass metabolize carbohydrates more efficiently. If you pair that muscle mass with exercise, you can further increase insulin sensitivity for up to 72 hours.
Unfortunately, after the age of 40, muscle mass starts to gradually decline, with an increase in decline every decade of life. This is one of the reasons why aging is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Not only does low muscle mass increase your risk for developing type 2 diabetes, but those who have diabetes and low muscle mass have a higher mortality rate compared to those with diabetes who do not have low muscle mass. Know that losing muscle mass as you age is not an inevitable fate. Although it is harder to build and maintain muscle as you get older, it is possible with consistent strength training and proper nutrition. So if you’ve ever felt like you “can’t tolerate carbs,” know that this is not entirely true and is rather a side effect of a deeper metabolic impairment caused by lack of muscle and movement.