Muscle Strength and Lower Risks of Type 2 Diabetes
New findings support the value of strength training to even overcome genetic susceptibility.
Motivate your strength training participants by sharing that higher levels of muscular strength may reduce type 2 diabetes, risks, regardless of genetics. University of Hong Kong researchers evaluated data from 141,848 white British adults in the UK Biobank, a database of over 500,000 UK adults being tracked for genetic and health information.
“Individuals in middle-to-late life are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, our study has demonstrated the potential roles of high muscle strength in preventing the future risk of developing type 2 diabetes not only in all individuals, but also in individuals with high genetic predisposition to type 2 diabetes. Our study supports the current public health guidelines which suggest that adults should engage in muscle-strengthening activities for at least two days per week from a disease prevention perspective,” says study author Youngwon Kim, PhD, assistant professor, school of Public Health at University of Hong Kong.
Study authors note that more research needs to be conducted with people from other ethnic groups as subjects were limited to people with European ancestry.
Research results are published in BMC Medicine .
References
2025; doi: 10.1186/s12916-024-03819-9
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
