Being a doctor with a specific interest in lifestyle medicine and prevention, I am constantly coming across new studies that give us valuable insights into the power of the human body to heal without the need of medications. I wanted to share with you a study that was published April 2024 regarding how improving body composition lowers cholesterol and A1c in patients with type 2 diabetes. You may be reading this and think: “Well, I don’t have diabetes, so this doesn’t apply to me!” Although this study only applies to diabetic patients, I see a similar finding in almost all of my patients: losing fat and gaining muscle improve important health metrics like blood sugar and cholesterol.
–> Here’s a link to the article
About the study:
The researchers looked at 207 Japanese patients between the ages of 50-75 with Type 2 Diabetes that were involved in a diabetes treatment program. They specifically looked at changes in body composition over those two years and how that affected their lab work.
What did they find?
- The more fat mass that patients lost, the better their lipid metrics looked (lower LDL, higher HDL, and lower triglycerides) — everything you’d want to see!
- The more skeletal muscle (lean mass) that patients gained, the better their A1c looked!
My thoughts:
- Lipids (LDL, triglycerides, ApoB particles) in the blood mostly serve to traffic energy and nutrients to other parts of the body for use. When we eat too much, have too much body fat, or don’t move enough during the day, these particles have nowhere to go — they just float around longer in your bloodstream damaging your arteries. By reducing fat, these lipid particles can be more efficiently used, clearing them out of the bloodstream quicker.
- Skeletal muscle requires a lot of glucose to maintain function. Muscle also provides a great storage depot for glucose to use later on. Having more muscle increases glucose use and glucose storage, no matter how bad your diabetes may be. This allows your body to be more efficient at managing blood sugar, thereby lowering your A1c and improving your diabetes.
- These findings occurred regardless of weight loss. Weight is not the problem — too much fat and too little muscle is the problem!
- I have seen these changes (lipids and glucose) occur in many patients WITHOUT diabetes, as well. I believe that focusing on body composition improvement is one of the most underutilized strategies to improve our health.
Patient Example
This is from a middle age male who was not on cholesterol-lowering medications but was told he had high cholesterol and needed to start a statin by an outside provider. He transferred to our clinic to enter the precision health program.
He lost 14lbs of fat while gaining 8lbs of lean mass at the same time. The scale said he only lost 6lbs, so you can see how that is misleading.
To be clear, I never see statin medications dropping LDL by this amount. This is incredible!
How do I improve body composition?
- The Do-It-Yourself Approach
- The easiest first step in improving body composition is focusing on muscle. In my experience, improving muscle mass will naturally create a calorie deficit that then aids in reducing fat mass. This means:
- Optimizing protein intake to at least 100g in women and 120g in men per day, divided out over 3-4 meals
- Strength training
- The second step is to slowly reduce calories (no more than 300 calories at a time) by reducing carbohydrates or fats in the diet while maintaining the same amount of protein intake and exercise.
- To increase success, you should consider protein powder and essential amino acid supplementation. These increase your protein intake with little calories (for example, essential amino acid supplements provide ~20g protein for only 2 calories!). We have these at our office at discount if you’re interested.
- You can get your own body composition scan for $100 ($125 if not a patient of Authentic Health). I recommend getting a baseline scan and then another 4-6 months later.
- You can read more about body composition HERE
- The easiest first step in improving body composition is focusing on muscle. In my experience, improving muscle mass will naturally create a calorie deficit that then aids in reducing fat mass. This means:
2. Join our Optimize Body Composition Program!
- 4 month intensive program designed to help you achieve your body composition goals
- Feel supported by a team that cares deeply about your health — medical oversight + dietitian
- Learn more HERE
3. Join our Precision Health Program!
- 1 year intensive program with Dr. Jackson or Dr. Vickery
- Uses in-depth blood work, genetics, health tracking data, body composition scans, and health coaching to help you better achieve your health goals
- Unlimited visits with your medical team
- Lean more HERE
I hope that was a helpful overview of the study! I am constantly blown away at the results we see from so many of our patients who put a dedicated effort into this type of work. For beginners, even small changes can produce significant results. Your body has the power to heal itself — it just needs the right inputs and direction. I cannot emphasize enough that improving body composition is important for everyone, regardless of your current state of health.
