A new study has found a link between lower muscle mass and a higher future heart disease risk events at least in males aged 45 and over. This association, the research indicates, is valid even for males with no history of heart disease. Cardiovascular disease patients who have high muscle mass and low-fat mass have a lower mortality risk than those with other body compositions, researchers have found. The findings also suggest that regardless of a person’s level of fat mass, a higher level of muscle mass helps reduce the future heart disease risk. It plays a pivotal role in many metabolic processes, and if it declines, many diseases may arise, including an increased risk of premature death.

Maintaining muscle tissue volume may be an effective means of promoting cardiovascular health and warding off heart attacks and strokes later on, at least in men, conclude the researchers. Muscular tissue volume starts to progressively ebb away from the mid 30s onwards at a rate of around 3% every decade. It has an active role in various metabolic processes, and its decline is associated with, among other things, disability and a heightened risk of death. Previous research indicates that muscle mass is associated with heart attack/stroke risk, but these studies have focused on the health outcomes of people with existing heart disease. The researchers wanted to find out if muscle mass in middle age might also predict the subsequent risk of poor cardiovascular health in people without heart disease.

Men were around four times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease as women, after accounting for potentially influential factors. And muscle mass volume was associated with cardiovascular disease risk. It remains unclear why the association between cardiovascular problems and muscle mass was significant only in the case of males, though the researchers hypothesize that hormonal differences between males and females as they age may explain the discrepancy.