Researchers are holding back new data on how people’s appetites reflect changes linked to aging and diabetes.
The reduction or inflammation of the gluteus maximus muscles of the buttocks may reflect frailty, sitting time, fat deposition and diabetes risk, and these changes may occur differently among men and women, the British team said.
“Unlike past studies that mainly looked at muscle size or fat, we used 3D shape mapping to pinpoint exactly where muscle changes, giving a much more detailed picture,” noted study coauthor Marjola Thanaj, senior researcher at the University of Westminster’s Optimal Health Research Center in London.
Her team will present their findings next week in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
In the study, Thanaj and colleagues examined more than 61,000 MRI scans collected as part of the ongoing UK Biobank database. They also had detailed information on Biobank participants’ physical measurements, medical histories and lifestyles.
Overall, this allowed the team to assess 86 different variables and track associations with changes in the shape of the buttock muscles over time.
Speaking in an RSNA news release, Thanaj reported that “people with higher fitness, as measured by vigorous physical activity and hand grip strength, had a larger gluteus maximus shape, while aging, frailty and long sitting times were linked to muscle wasting.”
The study found that men designated as frail showed greater thinning of the gluteus maximus compared to frail women.
And when it came to people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the men’s glutes showed severe thinning, while the women showed increased muscle mass in their glutes, perhaps due to the infiltration of fat into the tissues.
All of this suggests that buttock shape, rather than size, is more closely linked to underlying metabolic changes in the body, the study authors said.
Sex differences in the shape of the buttocks also suggest that disease may impact the biological responses of men and women differently, Thanaj said. This can be especially true when it comes to type 2 diabetes.
As one of the largest muscles in the human body, the gluteus maximus can play a crucial role in metabolic health, noted study lead author Louise Thomas, professor of metabolic imaging at the university.
Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
Learn more about the gluteus maximus at the Cleveland Clinic.
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