Why muscle matters more as you age
Muscle does more than move you. It helps manage blood sugar, and keeping it matters more as you age.
When we think of the organs keeping us alive, we picture the heart, the brain, and the lungs. We rarely think of our biceps or quads. But muscle plays a big part in long-term health too.
Muscle plays an important role in taking up glucose in response to insulin. The amount varies with the conditions being studied, so a single percentage does not describe every meal or person. Maintaining muscle is one part of supporting long-term health.
On top of that, working muscles secrete hundreds of hormone-like proteins called "myokines." These myokines travel throughout the body, and research links them to whole-body health.
Resistance training and adequate protein may support muscle maintenance. Food can provide that protein; a whey serving can be a convenient addition when needed.
Works cited
- Srikanthan, P., & Karlamangla, A. S. (2011). Relative muscle mass is inversely associated with insulin resistance and prediabetes. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(9), 2898-2903. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2011-0435
- Pedersen, B. K., & Febbraio, M. A. (2012). Muscles, exercise and obesity: skeletal muscle as a secretory organ. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 8(8), 457-465. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2012.49
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