When it comes to our health there is more evidence that maintaining and gaining muscle makes a difference. A recent study gives us more proof that muscle matters!
Researchers in Brazil have proven that having excess abdominal obesity combined with low muscle mass is deadly. This condition of low muscle and high body fat, called sarcopenic obesity, raises the risk of death by 83%.
The researchers studied data from more than 5,000 people over the age of 50, for 12 years, who were participating in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). They found that the combination of gaining fat and losing muscle had a compoundiing effect on metabolism.
Valdete Regina Guandalini, a professor at the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) and researcher in the Department of Gerontology at UFSCar found that extra body fat increases inflammation and triggers metabolic changes that accelerate muscle breakdown.
She states,
In addition to one condition interfering with the other, fat infiltrates the muscle and takes up its space. This systemic and progressive inflammation directly affects muscle tissue, compromising its metabolic, endocrine, immunological, and functional capabilities.
There is good news
The people in the study who had retained adequate muscle mass and had abdominal fat had no increased risk of death. The people who had no belly fat, but had inadequate muscle mass had a 40% risk of premature death.
The researchers defined abdominal obesity as a waist circumference greater than 102 centimetres (40 inches) for men and 88 centimetres (35 inches) for women.
Low muscle mass was defined as a skeletal muscle mass index below 9.36 kg/m2 for men and below 6.73 kg/m2 for women. It is harder to measure this at home, but this is an easy way to estimate muscle mass.
More evidence that muscle matters and maintaining as much as possible makes a difference.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
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