Diabetes is a serious disease that not only increases blood sugar levels but can also harm other organs of the body. Recently, a worrying study has revealed that muscle loss is decreasing rapidly in young diabetes patients. This is not only a threat to their physical health, but can also affect their lifestyle.
A new study by AIIMS has revealed that muscles are rapidly weakening in youth suffering from type 2 diabetes. This condition used to be seen in people above 65 years of age, but now this problem is also being found in diabetes patients above 40 years of age.
What do experts say
According to TOI, the lead researcher of the study, Dr. Naveen K Vikram of the Department of Internal Medicine, says that people suffering from diabetes should now get themselves checked for muscle loss (sarcopenia) along with treatment. If detected in time, the quantity and quality of muscles can be increased with the help of high-quality protein and resistance exercise, thereby preventing the problems caused by it.
Muscle loss is a serious problem
This study, recently published in the international journal 'Elsevier', states that muscle loss has emerged as a serious problem in youth suffering from type-2 diabetes, and low physical activity is the main reason for it. The risk of muscle loss increases with increasing age, hence it is very important to detect this disease early and treat it.
A study conducted on 229 diabetes patients
In the study, 229 diabetic patients aged between 20 to 60 years were examined. In the investigation, muscle strength, physical performance, and height-adjusted appendicular skeletal muscle index were measured. Most of the patients (47.6%) included in the study were between 41 and 50 years of age. At the same time, 19.21% of patients were between 31 to 40 years, 31% between 51 to 60 years and only 2.2% were below 30 years of age.
Result of study
The study found that 16.2% of patients had low muscle strength and slightly less was seen in men (14%) compared to women (17%). Physical performance was assessed through the chair-to-stand test and the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) test. Based on these two tests, 90 low-performing patients (39%) were found, in which the majority were women.
Sarcopenia confirmed in 18 patients
Probable muscle loss was found in 98 patients (43%) included in the study based on less than half the muscle strength or poor physical performance. Sarcopenia was confirmed in about 18.8% of patients, which was almost equal in both men and women. Severe sarcopenia was found in 14 patients (6.1%). It is noteworthy that the number of diabetes patients in India in 2021 was 7.42 crore. According to data from other studies, muscle mass decreases rapidly after the age of 40, decreasing by about 8% every decade until the age of 70. After this, every decade after 70 years, this reduction further increases and reaches 15-25%.
(PC: Freepik)
