Sarcopenia Increases Diabetes Risk

In older adults, who have sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss), because of their lower lean body mass are more prone to developing diabetes, stated findings published in Journal of the Endocrine Society. The similar findings were not found in older women. One in four adults aged 65 and older has diabetes, making them the group with the greatest burden of diabetes. Skeletal muscle is the largest insulin-sensitive tissue in the body and plays an essential role in blood sugar regulation. Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, may contribute to the development of diabetes in older adults.

"Age-related muscle loss may be an under-recognized target for interventions to prevent the development of diabetes in older adults," said the study's first author, Rita R. Kalyani, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. "We found that relatively lower lean body mass with aging was related to a higher incidence of diabetes in men but not women, and partially related to body size."

The researchers studied 871 men and 984 women, with an average age of 60 years at the initial visit, from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, who were followed up to 15 years. They used Dual X-ray Absorptiometry and found that lower lean body mass with aging is associated with incident diabetes in men but not women.

"Future studies that use more direct methods to assess skeletal muscle mass may give further insights into these relationships and the sex differences that we observed," Kalyani said.

Source-Eurekalert