A leading doctor insists obesity is not as big a health problem as people believe.
Currently appearing on CEO diary Dr. Gabriel Lyon on the podcast said the biggest thing people should focus on right now is skeletal muscle.
“Everyone focuses on obesity, but obesity is not our problem,” she told host Stephen Bartlett.
“If you’re less than a third as fit, you’re 50% more likely to die from almost anything. Skeletal muscle has to be prioritized.”
Skeletal muscle makes up nearly 40% of the body’s total mass and is responsible for movement, metabolism, energy, and nutrient storage.
Dr Gabriel Lyon (pictured) told the CEO Diary podcast that the biggest thing people should be focusing on right now is skeletal muscle, not weight.
“This is a long-lived organ and the only organ system that humans can control voluntarily,” Dr. Ryan said.
“Skeletal muscle is the primary site of glucose metabolism and fatty acid metabolism. It’s your body’s armor,” she continued.
“People who are less than one-third as fit have a 50% higher risk of dying from almost everything.”
To combat this, Dr. Ryan said strength training with weights is the key to good health and longevity.
If you don’t, you risk physical effects such as mobility problems, as well as loss of brain function.
“The majority of dementia is Alzheimer’s dementia, which is involved in metabolic regulation, which is type 3 diabetes of the brain,” she said.
“If your skeletal muscles are unhealthy, you may not only have insulin resistance in your skeletal muscles, but also insulin resistance in your brain. You can’t be healthy by being sedentary.”
“Everyone focuses on obesity, but obesity is not our problem,” Dr Ryan told host Stephen Bartlett
“If you’re less than a third as fit, you’re 50% more likely to die from almost anything. Skeletal muscle needs to be prioritized,” Dr. Ryan explained.
Recent research suggests that weightlifting is important for most adults, including older adults.
Resistance training has been shown to improve muscle strength that lasts years after retirement.
As people age, they naturally lose muscle function, and declines in grip strength and leg strength are considered to be strong predictors of death in the elderly.
Resistance training using weights, body weight, and resistance bands has been proven to help prevent this from happening.
