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Muscle mass and strength

Muscle is much more than strength

Muscle doesn't just help you move. It is one of your body's largest (30 to 40% of your total body weight) and most important metabolic tissues.

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Stylized DEXA image of the hips and thighs: the skeleton translucent grey, the muscles highlighted in teal blue.
  • Metabolic reservoir30 to 40% of your total body weight

Muscle helps control your blood sugar

Your muscles help you stay active, maintain your independence and continue doing the things you enjoy as you get older. They also play an important role in how your body handles energy and blood sugar.

  • GlucoseTaken up from the blood after meals
  • Amino acidsUsed to build and maintain muscle
  • Fatty acidsTaken up and used for energy, especially during exercise
Drawing of the muscles of the upper leg.
MuscleA metabolic sink
  • Improved insulin sensitivityHelps keep blood glucose in a healthy range
  • Higher energy expenditureBurns calories, even at rest
  • Better metabolic healthSupports a healthy body composition and reduces cardiometabolic risk

What happens after you eat

  1. Glucose enters your bloodAfter you eat, glucose enters your bloodstream.
  2. Insulin signals your musclesYour muscles get the signal to take up glucose.
  3. Muscle takes it upTo use for energy or to store as glycogen for later.

A metabolic reservoir

Because skeletal muscle is the largest tissue and requires lots of energy, particularly during exercise, it is one of the body's most important sites for glucose uptake.

Healthy, active muscle gives your body large capacity to take up, store and use energy and helps maintain healthy blood sugar regulation.

We gradually lose muscle as we age

Changes in our muscles can begin from midlife and tend to accelerate as we get older. Importantly, strength can decline faster than muscle mass itself. This happens because ageing affects muscle quality, fat can accumulate within muscle and the nervous system can become less effective at activating muscle.

As we age, muscle also becomes less responsive to signals that normally stimulate muscle growth, including protein and exercise.

From the literature

Three findings worth knowing

~15% per decadeStrength can decline surprisingly quickly.

Longitudinal research found that leg strength declined by around 14 to 16% per decade from midlife onwards.

Longitudinal study, PubMed (opens in a new tab)
5 kg lower strength

Every 5 kg lower grip strength was associated with a 16% higher risk of death in a large international prospective study.

Prospective study, PubMed (opens in a new tab)
About twice the risk

A meta-analysis of 57 studies involving more than 42,000 people found that people with sarcopenia had approximately twice the risk of premature death compared with people without sarcopenia.

Meta-analysis, PubMed (opens in a new tab)

What happens when too much muscle is lost?

At the extreme end of age-related muscle decline is sarcopenia, a medical condition characterized by low muscle strength together with reduced muscle quantity or quality. However, the impact of losing muscle and strength starts long before someone reaches that point.

  • A woman lifting her suitcase into the overhead locker on a plane.

    Everyday activities get harder

    Carrying heavy shopping or luggage becomes harder. Getting up from the floor takes more effort.

  • A woman hiking uphill in the mountains with walking poles and a backpack.

    Hiking, skiing and active holidays

    Long hikes, skiing or active holidays may become less enjoyable or eventually no longer possible.

  • A woman resting on the sofa with a cup of tea, her leg in a brace.

    Less reserve to fall back on

    When illness, injury or a period of inactivity occurs, having less muscle to begin with leaves less reserve to fall back on.

The more reserve you maintain, the more room you have before normal ageing begins to limit what you can do.

Why measure muscle mass?

Body weight alone cannot tell you how much muscle you have, or how well that muscle functions. We can have the same age, height and weight but still have very different amounts of muscle and very different levels of strength.

At Vitary, we therefore measure both muscle mass and muscle strength. We interpret both results in the context of your age, sex and body size to understand where you stand and where there may be room for improvement.

Measure. Understand. Optimize your health.

Start with a few questions to see whether a DEXA scan is right for you. A registered physician reviews your answers before your visit. If a scan is appropriate, we measure your visceral fat, muscle mass and bone health, walk you through your results and show you where you can make the greatest impact.

Launch offer €199, until 31 December, then €299.all-inNo referral neededSee if a DEXA scan is right for you