Whole-body skeletal muscle mass is not related to glucose tolerance or insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese men and women

The relationship between skeletal muscle mass, visceral adipose tissue, insulin sensitivity, and glucose tolerance was examined in 214 overweight or obese, but otherwise healthy, men (n = 98) and women (n = 116) who participated in various exercise and (or) weight-loss intervention studies. Subjects had a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test and (or) insulin sensitivity measures by a 3 h hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp technique. Whole-body skeletal muscle mass and visceral adipose tissue were measured using a multi-slice magnetic resonance imaging protocol. Total body skeletal muscle mass was not associated with any measure of glucose metabolism in men or women (p > 0.10). These observations remained independent of age and total adiposity. Conversely, visceral adipose tissue was a significant predictor of various measures of glucose metabolism in both men and women with or without control for age and (or) total body fat (p < 0.05). Although skeletal muscle is a primary site for glucose uptake and deposition, these findings suggest that unlike visceral adipose tissue, whole-body skeletal muscle mass per se is not associated with either glucose tolerance or insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese men and women.