Sodiq Ojuroungbe
A new study has found that the accumulation of fat in skeletal muscles, known as myosteatosis can increase the risk of heart failure and death.
The study which was published in the journal, Radiology, noted that muscle fat raises the risk of death as much as Type 2 diabetes and smoking,
While describing high levels of fat within muscles as a silent killer, the researchers stressed that serious health dangers were associated with myosteatosis.
They lamented that muscle fat is being overlooked by physicians, as many of them rely on Body Mass Index (BMI) to estimate body fat.
The researchers argued that people with comparable BMIs can be at very different levels of health risk, stressing that BMI does not accurately reflect body composition.
They emphasised that abdominal CT or MRI scans offer a more precise and detailed evaluation of fat deposits.
The study authors suggested that there should be a prompt for the medical community to rethink standards for assessing the health risks of muscle fat.
The researchers monitored unfavourable health occurrences such as heart attacks, strokes, and aneurysms among participants of the study during a follow-up period of about nine years.
Out of the 9,000 healthy adults involved in the study, 507 died during the follow-up period. Myosteatosis increased the likelihood of serious adverse outcomes and was present in 55 per cent of the fatalities.
The researchers found that, compared to other recognised risk factors for early death, such as obesity (7%), fatty liver disease (8%), and muscular atrophy (9%), extra muscle fat raised the absolute mortality rate at 10 years by 15%.
The study co-author and a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Experimental and Clinical Research UCLouvain, Belgium, Dr. Maxime Nachit said the link between myosteatosis and higher risk of death was unrelated to age or obesity markers revealed by BMI.
Nachit told Medical News Today that future studies could help determine whether myosteatosis is solely a biomarker of poorer health status or whether it is causally associated with an increased risk of death.
“In other words, this means that fat accumulation in the muscles is not merely explained by being older and/or having fat overload in other locations of the body,” he added.
Meanwhile, a physiologist, Titilayo Oni, told Reportr Door Healthwise that exercise can help reduce muscle fat and prevent heart failure or death as projected by the new study.
She said, “It is true muscle fat has been associated with an increase in some medical conditions, but engaging in frequent exercise can help reduce the fat.
“Muscle tissue typically contains only small amounts of adipose tissue, and the excess deposition of adiposity is considered a pathological phenomenon termed myosteatosis. Numerous researchers have examined the impact of exercise alone on the degree of myosteatosis, and some have shown encouraging findings.
“Exercise appears to lead to a remodelling of cellular lipid distribution and muscle attenuation.
“However, more investigation is required in that field to address queries regarding exercise, myosteatosis, and cardiovascular health. In order to promote cardiometabolic “healthy” skeletal muscle, new exercise-related therapies may be created with a better understanding of the variables that govern myosteatosis.”
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