We all know fat. It’s the stuff that sits around our bellies and we try to lose at the gym.
But there’s another type of fat that you might not be aware of.
It’s called myosteatosis. Sounds complicated, right? Well, it’s actually pretty simple.
Myosteatosis is just a fancy term for fat that builds up inside our muscles. Yes, that’s right, fat can hide away inside our muscles!
This type of fat is sneakier than the kind around our belly because we don’t see it. We usually find out about it when we’re already feeling sick and go to the doctor for a check-up.
The Study on Myosteatosis
A team of smart scientists wanted to know if this sneaky muscle fat could cause problems for healthy people. So, they did a big study and published their findings in a scientific journal called “Radiology”.
The team was led by a researcher named Dr. Maxime Nachit from UCLouvain in Brussels, Belgium.
They used a computer program to help them look at belly scans of adults who were healthy but had a check-up for colorectal cancer.
How Many People Were Studied?
The scientists looked at nearly 9,000 adults who had their bellies scanned between 2004 and 2016. During this time, sadly, over 500 of these people passed away.
What the researchers found was surprising. More than half of the people who died had a lot of fat in their muscles.
The Risk of Muscle Fat
The risk of dying within 10 years was much higher in people with muscle fat (15.5%) compared to those who were obese (7.6%), or had a fatty liver (8.5%) or weak muscles (9.7%).
Interestingly, the risk of dying for people with muscle fat was almost as high as for those who smoked or had type 2 diabetes.
The Problem with Muscle Fat
Here’s the problem. The fat in our muscles isn’t just about getting older or being overweight. Dr. Nachit said that this fat builds up even if we aren’t old or don’t have too much body fat.
This makes muscle fat a tricky problem that isn’t easy to spot. Most of us might not even know we have it.
What’s Next for Muscle Fat Research?
There’s still a lot we don’t know about muscle fat. For example, we don’t know if it’s just a sign that someone isn’t very healthy, or if it directly leads to people getting sick or dying. Future studies could help figure this out.
Towards Personalized Medicine
Dr. Nachit mentioned something called “personalized medicine”. This is an exciting new way of treating patients.
Instead of giving everyone the same treatment, doctors will look at a person’s genes, health history, physical features, and other factors to come up with a tailor-made treatment plan.
It’s like getting a suit made just for you instead of buying one off the rack!
What’s the Role of Muscle Fat in Personalized Medicine?
Well, if you’ve had a medical scan done, there’s a good chance the doctors could find out if you have muscle fat. Dr. Nachit thinks that knowing this could be a powerful tool for doctors.
It might help them figure out if a person has a high risk of getting sick or dying in the next few years.
In a nutshell, the study tells us that fat in our muscles could be a hidden danger that we need to pay more attention to.
With more research and a move towards personalized medicine, we could better understand this sneaky fat and find ways to fight it.
If you care about wellness, please read studies that avocado could help you lose weight and belly fat, and a popular weight loss diet linked to heart disease and cancer.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that olive oil may help you live longer, and vitamin D could help lower the risk of autoimmune diseases.
The study was published in Radiology.
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