The Study:  Muscle Fitness to Visceral Fat Ratio, Metabolic Syndrome and Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics  

The Facts:

a. “This study aimed to investigate the association between the muscle fitness to visceral fat level (MVF) ratio and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics among college students.”

b. They used 1467 subjects.

c. They divided the subjects into four different groups according to the subjects muscle fitness to visceral fat level ratios (MVF).

d. They noted that: “…skeletal muscle is the principal site of insulin-mediated glucose uptake…”

e. They noted that few studies had looked at the cardiovascular health of young adults.

f. Persons with low muscle fitness and high visceral fat have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and of metabolic disorders “early in life”.

g. In this study they used grip strength as a proxy for muscular fitness and looked to see if there was an association of reduced grip strength and increased visceral fat “and the prevalence of MetS [metabolic syndrome] and ideal CVH [cardiovascular health] metrics among college students.”

h. They used a Tanita single frequency scale to measure the body fat percentage, muscle mass and the visceral fat.

i. Grip strength was measured by using a dynamometer.  

j. They also looked at blood pressure as well as blood tests to measure both glucose and lipid levels along with a number of other related factors (BMI, smoking, waist circumference, smoking, level of activity and presence/absence of a “healthy diet” .

k. They found: “A lower MVF ratio [more visceral fat and less muscle fitness] is associated with worse CVH [cardiovascular health] metrics and a higher prevalence of MetS [metabolic syndrome] in early adulthood…” 

Take Home:

Less muscle fitness and/or higher visceral fat is associated with metabolic syndrome and worse cardiovascular health, as measured by blood tests and blood pressure.

Reviewer's Comments: OK, so we can certainly criticize the use of grip strength as the only means to determine muscular fitness but in their defense it would be difficult to accurately measure overall muscular fitness. Also they used a single frequency scale which may not be as accurate as newer dual frequency scale, although I don’t know if the dual frequency scales were available at the time of the study. I think this paper tends to support what most of us would think in that the more fat you have and less muscle you have the more likely you are not to be in the best health.

 Reviewer:  Roger Coleman DC 

Editor’s Comments: Simple paper but kind of interesting. By looking at a simple fitness/fatness ratio, the authors were able to highlight the importance of both factors in improving a wide range of health markers. I think most of our patients  tend to be more concerned with being overweight (i.e. over fat) but may underestimate the value of muscular strengthening in terms of their overall health. Overweight patients may be able to improve their health markers by improving their strength even if body fat remains unchanged.   

Editor: Mark R. Payne DC 

Reference: Robinson Ramírez-Vélez 1 2, María Correa-Rodríguez 3, Mikel Izquierdo 4, Jacqueline Schmidt-RioValle 5, Emilio González-Jiménez Muscle Fitness to Visceral Fat Ratio, Metabolic Syndrome and Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics. Nutrients: . 2018 Dec 22;11(1):24. doi: 10.3390/nu11010024. PMID: 30583491

Link to Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30583491/

Link to Full Text:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6356414/pdf/nutrients-11-00024.pdf