Is Muscle Mass a Factor in Type 2 Diabetes Prevention or Gestational Diabetes Control?

One way to prevent or control Type 2 diabetes and pregnancy-related diabetes, also known as gestational diabetes, is physical activity. The protective nature of muscle tissue may be one explanation for this. A connection between low muscle mass and insulin resistance has been discovered by researchers at St. Marianna University in Kawasaki, Japan.

Their study, reported on in November of 2018 in Endocrinology Journal, included 96 pregnant women with an average age of 34 years, diagnosed with They had an average body mass index (BMI) of 22 kg/m2, which is considered to be a healthy weight. Insulin resistance was highest in women who had the least amount of muscle mass. The findings of the study suggested that controlling or preventing gestational diabetes may require more than simply adjusting body weight.

In September of 2018, the journal Clinical Science reported on a study that underscores the need for muscle mass to prevent Microscopic RNA (ribonucleic acid), which is involved in the regulation of genes, was found to be programmed to lower insulin sensitivity in the muscles of women who had been diagnosed with diabetes during their pregnancy by researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and several other research facilities in Chile and the United States.

Pregnant women’s placentas are the source of the microscopic RNA contained in exosomes…

• exosomes taken from women with When participants with normal blood sugar levels received gestational diabetes, the amount of sugar that their muscles absorbed decreased.
• when exosomes from healthy women were assigned to women diagnosed with Their muscles started to absorb more sugar as a result of gestational diabetes.

These findings led the researchers to the conclusion that exosomes may have an impact on insulin sensitivity in both healthy and diabetic pregnant women…

• deoxyribonucleic acid, abbreviated Our genes, which make up our DNA and define who we are, are made. Long sugar molecules and smaller molecules known as bases make up its nucleus-located structure.
• By taking its base sequence cues from DNA molecules, RNA builds itself up alongside DNA molecules. The RNA then follows the DNA’s instructions and exits the cell or, in the case of exosomes, travels outside the cell.

It may be possible to design a protein to cover the specific DNA sequence that codes for gestational diabetes once it is known, preventing the RNA from attaching itself. Maintaining a healthy weight and adding only the recommended amount of weight while pregnant is currently the best known method for preventing or controlling pregnancy-related diabetes.