Video / Sharecare Experts / Reza Yavari, MD / Why Is Healthy Muscle Mass Important If I Have Diabetes?

Why Is Healthy Muscle Mass Important If I Have Diabetes?

Why Is Healthy Muscle Mass Important If I Have Diabetes? (1:02)

Healthy muscle mass is important if you have diabetes, since the muscles use up the sugar you consume, which better controls blood sugars. Watch endocrinologist Reza Yavari, MD, discuss why healthy muscle mass is key for people who have diabetes.

Read Transcript

Diabetes is caused by excess blood sugars. In other words the blood sugar, the sugar we consume has no where to go therefore it stays in the blood vessels and becomes toxic. The biggest organ in the body that uses blood sugar is our muscles, what we call our musculature. Musculature is very important for managing diabetes because, one addressed even when we're asleep, our muscles are using up the sugar we have consumed and then when move and exercise they even use more of the sugar that we have consumed.

The more muscle the better. Muscles can and in fact if you have diabetes the best thing you can do is to increase your muscle mass with healthy and safe exercise routines, and you will see hat your blood sugars will be better controlled because now you have more muscle in your body that is craving to use up the sugar that you've consumed.