Blog

Aug 29

Muscles may finally be making their way to the main stage. Sure, there has always been a crowd that cares - just walk into any gym, fitness studio, or whatever trendy term is being used today to find them - but solidly typecast in athletics and aesthetics, they've had a hard time crossing over into the mainstream conversation on health. Not even their proven track record for lowering injury risk when strong, in this recent study by 25% or more, even for healthy and fit athletes, has gotten them a shot at the big-time. Recently, however, the idea of maintaining muscle mass and prizing power is gaining traction with a larger and more widespread audience. 

While we clinical folks might like to believe that it's the rising importance of "sarcopenia", that is, abnormal age-related muscle loss, that's driving the conversations, results like these, which show a generally low understanding even among professionals, suggest otherwise. Ironically, it may be the attention-grabbing "baby with the bathwater" headlines associated with popular appetite suppression medications that are providing the spark. While there is much hope for the health impact of lowering body fat this way, possible side-effects of doing so too aggressively, which include strength and muscle mass loss, may be driving the conversation beyond muscle as a body mover, to muscle as sugar sponge and, maybe most importantly, myokine maker.

First, let's review the concept of a sugar-sponge. It's a relatively simple idea. Every time we load our muscles via exercise, active hobbies, or physical work, we are priming them, like squeezing a sponge, to soak up blood sugar for energy production. All physical activity works, but combining resistance (the more muscles engaged, the better) and aerobic exercise is even more effective in both the short term and the long term. However, the trouble with this analogy is that sponges work both ways - they not only "soak up" the overflow (in this case, blood sugar) but they also release whatever they're storing when we next squeeze them, which is where things really get interesting for muscles.

Somewhere around 2008, researchers started using the term "myokine" to refer to certain small proteins produced by muscles and known to play important roles in our health. From reducing inflammation to improving metabolism and lots in between, these proteins play big roles. However, it wasn't until more recently that we learned of their critically important role in supporting brain and nervous system health as well as in lowering cancer risk. It turns out that one of the reasons exercisers have a significantly lower risk of certain types of cancer is directly related to these powerful little proteins. Just last week, an impressive new paper profiled an experiment where researchers added a few droplets of a blood sample taken from cancer survivors after a single bout of high-intensity exercise to a petri dish of aggressive breast cancer cells and showed that they could slow the rate of growth by as much as 30% compared to a sample taken at rest. In plain English, after an hour of exercise and for at least the first 30 minutes of recovery, our blood becomes a potent anti-cancer agent...adding yet another reason to make muscle work a priority.

OK, it's not actually magic, the results in the mirror never seem to show up as fast as we'd like, but within minutes, the myokines will be on the move and the benefits will start. If it's been a while since you wrung out your sponges and soaked up some sugar, there's never a bad time to restart the habit. Whether a structured routine or something as simple as a few push-ups and air squats by your bedside, it all counts. 

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.