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Keeping Aging Muscles Fit Is Tied to Better Heart Health Later


Photo by Guduru Ajay bhargav from Pexels

Article: Keeping Aging Muscles Fit Is Tied to Better Heart Health Later - The New York Times

One comment, one gripe, comment first:
Generally, muscle mass is to some degree correlated with well-being and health, so this finding is not so new, but also, not indicative that activity is the cause. The human body is a system and the result of the system is muscularity, dependent on hormones and one's natural dispositions. However cliched, reductions in testosterone (or much more complicated variations) might affect muscle mass, heart health, fat mass, emotional well-being, etc. My gripe is the usual one: The study needs a well-controlled, with comparative treatments and a control group, to differentiate the effects of preserving muscle mass. This study, and this presentation, does nothing except make the same mistake many do, assume correlation of muscle mass with well-being is causative. The author correctly hedges her conclusion, writing that keeping muscle "is probably key to protecting middle-aged hearts", and one can't go wrong advocating fitness, but it still leaves the wrong impression. I'm not a medical professional, but my undergrad focused on study design, I was certified as an ACE-certified as a personal trainer, and have been working out for over 30 years. I have read many many studies and analyses of fitness and health outcomes. Most popular analysis, and many if not most published ones, suffer from the same problem, bad study design.

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