Research
Hormonal
Aging, estrogen deficiency, glucocorticoid treatment, and disuse stimulate the accumulation of intramyocellular lipid and intermuscular fat (myosteatosis), which is linked to loss of muscle strength, reduced insulin sensitivity, and increased mortality.
As you age, your muscles are prone to accumulating fat, which weakens them and increases your risk of falls. This process is driven by hormonal changes and lack of use. To counteract this, engage in regular resistance exercise or low-magnitude vibration to keep your muscle cells from turning into fat cells.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
Importantly, accumulation of ACs in skeletal muscle and accumulation of intramyocellular lipid are linked to loss of muscle strength, reduced insulin sensitivity, and increased mortality among the elderly.
Why this rating
The paper reviews extensive evidence linking these factors to myosteatosis across multiple studies.
Source
Fatty Infiltration of Skeletal Muscle: Mechanisms and Comparisons with Bone Marrow Adiposity
Mark W. Hamrick et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2016
DOI 10.3389/fendo.2016.00069
narrative_reviewCited 365×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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